


Dead Eye (Choni- Riverdale)

by posiewosie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Fanfiction, Fantasy, Multi, Riverdale, choni
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 19:59:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 57,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16898967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posiewosie/pseuds/posiewosie
Summary: This is the series of tragic events that lead to my downfall, and to the rise of the one true chaos in this dreamed city.The rise of Dead Eye.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Riverdale is a big city in this fic. And yes, I'm the author of the books on Wattpad (my main writing formula) like Voltage, Fixer Upper and Dichotomy. If you want more, go there for other works of mine.

The birth of Dead Eye occured after a series of tragic incidents in my life.

 It began when the private plane my parents were in on their way home from a conference in France mysteriously crashed, killing both of them. 

My brother, Jason and I were left, two over privileged twenty year-olds with a billion dollar company to run, when we had no idea what its significance even was. 

We didn't understand what to do. How could we? We were kids with God complexes and pockets so deep that they were as undiscovered as the Earth's oceans. We had to learn along the way as we coped in various ways, him through alcoholism, and me, by learning how to perfect myself. 

I put down the toys and sex, and picked up morals and an understanding of just what our business entailed. 

I got engaged to my then, on-again, off-again girlfriend, Heather, who kept me sane. She helped me understand my feelings when all I wanted to understand was what could've happened to my parents' plane. She taught me how to be humble, how to take things as they come, and that things are much more important than money. 

She was the only constant in my life other than Jason, and after almost two years, I was finally able to think about my parents without having the wrenching pain in my chest, hammering at me and warning me that something wasn't right. 

It was Christmas Eve, when Jason, Heather and I were having dinner at a restaurant, which was completely vacated for us, when the sounds of gunshots assaulted my ears, and bullets assaulted the head of my fiance, and my shoulder. 

I remember fading in and out of consciousness as I was being moved around like a rag doll, tied to the chair was in previously as I struggled to keep myself awake. 

"I'll let ya go." I heard a deep, diabolical voice, and my eyes fixed on the form of a tan man with a devious grin as we looked me in the eyes, hunched over as he looked between Jason's eyes and my own. He was shaking and exhaling, having a hard time keeping his composure, begging to be let go at once. "I'll let ya go when you tell me where Penelope and Cliff hid the DJL ninety six." He demanded, and in my state of delirium, I gave him a look of bewilderment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Asked Jason angrily, fighting against his restraints, a single zip tie holding his wrists behind the back of the chairs we sat in. 

"The file!" He seethed, the veins in his forehead bulging, green hues surrounding his tan skin. "Where did they hide the DJL file?!" He barked, causing me to wince. 

"Look," Jason whimpered, his head snapping to me in fear that I'd be killed. "We didn't even know what this company was about before our parents died." He said truthfully, "We didn't even know the computer passwords when we became the owners." 

"See," Chuckled the darkly handsome man as he paced back and forth in front of us, hands behind his back as he looked between the two strong guards on either side of the room. "I think you're hiding something here, and I want to find out what it is." He reached into the pocket of his black pinstripe blazer, pulling out a pocket knife and switching the blade out. "I'll do what it takes to get what I need from you, Mr Blossom." He taunted, eying the guard to his right, who walked over and untied me, jerking me out of my chair and holding me upright with my arms behind my back, causing me to whimper in pain at the blood pouring from my open wound, down the neckline of my dress. He took the dip of my dress's neckline and cut it until the fabric fell free, leaving me in nothing but my underwear. 

"Such a pretty face." He tisked, touching the sharp blade against the skin of my cheek, causing my hair to stand up as my blood curdled inside of my body. "We'll make sure she can keep an open casket, in case you really are too proud not to tell me what you know." I gasped in horror when I felt white hot heat and absolute bone chilling cold at the same time, the knife having been plunged deep inside of my abdomen. I let out a sob, my face contorting in pure pain as I tried to fight off my pain. He looked to my brother and chuckled deeply. "That way you can stare at her face when they lower her into the ground." He chuckled, twisting the handle so that my skin tore in a way that made breathing painful, each inhale like a thousand degrees of hot coals being pelted at me. Each exhale like expelling fire from the unnatural gape in my tissue. 

"No, no, please!" Sobbed my brother, "I don't know anything, I swear on my mother's life!" I could hear his body shake as he wailed in pain at seeing me in so much pain. "Let her go, please, she doesn't deserve this, please please!" He broke down in sobs, and the man simply chuckled again, pulling away from me, allowing me to breathe, despite the spine splitting pain it caused me. 

"If you won't spill your guts, kid, we'll spill hers." He said, and I was caught off guard by the feeling of my skin being invaded again, the knife slicing from one side of my abdomen, to the other. 

I couldn't even scream, it just came out silently, my body convulsing as I endured this pain, and listened to the sound of my brother's pleas and tearful whimpers. 

"I don't know anything!" He screeched, "Please, please, please," He trailed off as he looked down, shaking his head as he sobbed the same word over and over again. 

"I guess I believe you." He admitted after a beat. "But now, you have nobody. I'll put you out of your misery, Jason." I heard a gun cock, and just as I looked up, I watched the trigger pull back, and my brother's head snap back, then fall limp against his chest. 

"No!!!" I screamed horsley, sobbing. It was all I could do, the pain so far spread along my body that I had no other instinct. 

"Kill her." He demanded, tucking his gun back into his pocket before beginning to walk away. "Steer clear of her face. We're not monsters." He said before walking out, and that was all I remembered, before the small flashes came along. 

Flashes of a woman with a kind set of brown eyes and pink hair, tending to me, calling out at me. 

I woke up some time later to the source of that pink hair, beat cop in a Navy Blue uniform, sitting 

beside me, looming over me when I looked up. Her eyes widened, and it wasn;t until she let go of my hand that I realized she was even clutching it. 

"Cheryl Blossom." She cleared her throat, "I'm officer Topaz." Her voice was warm and soft, despite the somber tone. "I'm not sure if you remember what happened, but-" 

"I remember." I whimpered as everything came flooding back. 

"I'm so sorry for your losses." She mumbled, taking her hat off and setting it on the chair beside her. 

"What happened... ya know... who found me?" I asked, and she took in a deep breath. 

"I did." She divulged. "I've been here between calls since we brought you in on Saturday." 

"Even at night?" I asked, and the tan woman shrugged. 

"I've been home three times since then." 

"What day is it now?" I asked, and Officer Topaz hesitated.

"Friday." She explained, and I exhaled, finding it hard to do so.

"How bad is it?" I asked. 

"They said that your minimum recovery time is expected to be a month." She uncovered, "They spent sixteen hours on your surgeries. You lost so much blood that they needed on-sight transfusions, and you have a rare blood type." She cleared her throat and sat back in her chair slightly. "Nobody thought you'd make it, but I had a hunch." 

"Why?" I asked, and she shrugged. 

"You just look like a strong woman who can handle herself." She commended with a soft, kind smile. 

... 

Toni and I became friends over the next month. 

She told me about how she became a police officer because she wanted to catch people like the one who killed her dad and brother. We talked about everything from her limited childhood, and how I was granted everything I wanted as a kid. She told me about how her mom died when she was a baby, and I told her about how I wish mine had died when I was a baby. 

She told me about how she lost her girlfriend in a fire, and we bonded over our losses together. 

For that month, the only person I wanted to see was Officer Toni Topaz, and for that month, she came in every single day, bringing me food every time she came in after a shift at work. Sometimes she'd come in dirty, and I'd insist she'd shower in the shower connected to my room. 

Once, she came in late, maybe around nine at night, and she was shaken up after having had a standoff. She was shot at by a perpetrator, and she was okay physically, but I couldn't watch her shake, holding herself in the chair next to me. 

"Come here," I insisted, and she looked up at me in confusion. "Come lie with me, Toni." I insisted, and it took her a minute before she stood up and curled into me. I let her under the covers and laid her head on my shoulder, tucking my arm under her leather jacket so I could wrap it around her waist completely. "You're okay." I whispered, running my right hand through her long, pink locks. 

We laid in my room, in that bed in silence, looking at the shadow of the chairs against the wall opposite the lamp that cast said shadow. I listened to her heart, revelling in the way it beat against mine, her fingers trickling along the skin of my forearm. 

"Does it still hurt?" Toni muttered after about thirty silent, comfortable minutes. "Your wounds, when the drugs wear off, does it still hurt?" She asked, and I hummed before answering, my voice hoarse from not speaking. 

"The one on my stomach," I confirmed, "It buzzes when I twist in one way too far, and the buzzing burns so bad that it makes me cry." It was a simple enough response, I deemed. Not too difficult on the brain, not too much for her to take in given her state of shock. "But I like the feeling I get when I touch the skin around the wrappings. It's warm, but it reminds me that I'm not invincible. It also reminds me that it's not all for nothing; living in a cruel world. Because when I heal, I'll show the world that I'm more than just a victim." I finished, and I hadn't realized that my eyes were closed until I opened them upon feeling her head move against my unscathed shoulder. We made eye contact, and I grew lost in those deep, warm pools of brown below her eyelids. She slid her hand under the fabric of the pajama top she bought for me a few visits ago, and her fingers trickled along the skin, causing me to shiver. 

It was surreal; being touched in such an innocently intimate way. My eyes stayed open, as I wasn't willing to miss a moment of the show that played out for me within her orbs of majesty. Her lip twitched, and I moved my left hand from her waist, to the hand of hers that laid on my abdomen. I clutched it tight, and pressed the back of it to my lips, a lingering kiss that faltered naturally before I held our embrace against my chest, symbolizing that there was something between us that we would never speak of with someone other than each other. 

And speak of it I shant. 

Not as the month went on, and ended. Not as I was discharged, and definitely not as I came to a realization.

Toni was a good person. An amazing person, even. 

She didn't deserve the pain she was put through by the people in this city, and even with the less than honorable ways that I had lived my life so far, I did not deserve the physical and emotional pain I went through this last month and a half. 

Somebody had to make the terrible people of Riverdale pay, and who better to make that happen than the woman who lost everything at the hands of this dreaded city? 

I would soon leave this city without alerting Toni. 

I would leave, and I would temporarily employ a close friend of my brother, Kevin Keller, to take care of what is now my company. 

I would leave, and I wouldn't come back. 

Not until I knew for a fact of what exactly I was capable. 

Not until I knew exactly what had to be done to bring this city to justice; everyone who needed to be punished, everyone who needed to be avenged. 

Not until I was fully capable of killing the killer of my brother, and my fiance, with my bare hands. 

Not until I could look directly into his cold, dead eyes, and see my triumphant grin beaming right back at me in the reflection. 


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first real chapter is gonna be boring, mostly because I'm setting the scene and making sure that I've covered every person's character dynamic. Enjoy.

"Cheryl, it's so good to see you!" Called my only real friend, Kevin Keller, his big, bright smile welcoming me as his strong arms took me in for a hug, something I haven't felt since that night in the hospital bed with Toni, someone I missed painfully so. His kind brown eyes took my in as he exhaled happily, taking my single duffel bag from the floor beside me. "I've really missed you." He sighed happily, holding out an arm for me to hook my own within.

"I've missed you too, Kevin." I assured calmly. "How have you been?" I asked, and he smiled, turning his head to the right, looking down to accommodate his gaze with my height.

"Great, I got married, last fall." He divulged happily, causing my lips to upturn in my first genuine smile since I arrived at the Riverdale International Airport, or RIA for short.

"That's great. The same young man you were dating when I left?" I confirmed, and he nodded.

"Franky. But he goes by Fangs." He chuckled, and I rose a brow.

"Both names are equally as atrocious." I admitted, causing him to nod in solidarity. 

 

"Yeah, that's the only thing that sucks about him." He sighed as we walked out into the parking lot, which was flooded with cars, damming in and out of the single stream that lead out the area. 

"Surely not the only thing that sucks." I hinted slyly, and he blushed.

"Uh, you're right." He chuckled.

"Anyway, tell me about Blossom Industries. How has it been going?" I asked, and he smiled excitedly as we walked up into the parking garage, around moving cars that parked at everyone.

"It's going great!" He grinned excitedly, "Net worth is two point two billion. Stock is up by over eighty percent in the last five years." He grinned, proud of himself as he stopped at a modest looking sedan, opened the trunk and threw my bag inside before closing it and rounding the car so we could get in the vehicle and drive away.

"Have you uh..." I trailed off, my mind wandering to the memory of those eyes I missed so much.

Sure, I missed Heather and Jason, but the last five years, knowing the people I know, experiencing the things I've experienced, have helped me learn not to dwell on the dead, but to revel in the living.

And now, I miss Toni.

"Have you talked to Toni since uh..."

"Since Franky's sister got partnered with her?" He asked, causing me to snap my head to him on the left side. "I didn't even know Franky had a sister." I admitted, and he shrugged.

"Leslie and Lucille are twins." He divulged.

"Leslie is Sweetpea, right?" I asked, causing him to hum as he turned out of the stream, into the sea of vehicles waving down the freeway.

"And Lucille goes by Lulu."

"God, what kind of parent would name their children Franklin, Leslie and Lucille Leatherbelly?" I complained, and Kevin shrugged.

"I'm blessed to have a normal name, honestly." He jested.

"I've really missed you, Cheryl. It's been less lively without you." He said sincerely, and I scoffed, toying with the end of the seatbelt against my chest.

"I'm not the same person I was before I left," I warned, "I'm less naive now, and I'm not weak anymore."

"You were never weak." He shook his head, making eye contact with me. "You proved that the night you came back from the dead."

...

I purchased a smaller home about a year ago in the heart of Riverdale, so to have quick access to any single call at any given time. I made sure that the modifications I needed were made so that by the time I got to my new home, I had a soundproof basement and reinforced ceilings.

"Want me to help you get settled in?" Asked my companion as we parked in front of the burgundy colored house, and I shook my head as my eyes flirted around the front of the white picket fence that surrounded my perfectly green grass.

"No," I hummed, unbuckling and opening the door. "Can you just pop the trunk?" I inquired, awaiting for him to do so before I rounded the back for my bag and then moved to lean into the passenger window. "Thank you for everything, Kevin." I hummed, and he winked.

"Anything for family." He assured.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow." I smiled, waving as I walked away. He didn't drive away until I reached under the mat for the key and opened the big, oakwood door.

I opened the door and looked around at the fully furnished house, modest, but still tasteful. There were redwood bookcases that lined every wall in the living room, in the middle of which laid a black leather sectional, a soft, satin blanket draped across the back of the middle, inviting me to cover myself within.

Not now, however.

Now, there are more important things to tend to.

Like my doorbell that just rang.

I turned around to look into the peep hole, feeling my heart snatch at the pink that flashed across my gaze, making every memory flash across my mind in the same way.

Slowly, I opened the door, my knees faltering at the way her brown eyes sucked me in, begging me to take a dive within those bottomless pools of warmth.

"Toni." It was a whisper, and I was breathless at the way the wind blew past her hair, making that vanilla and coffee smell assault my nostrils and intoxicate me.

"Cheryl, hi..." She trailed it off, scratching the back of her head with one hand while the other stayed safely tucked into the pocket of her black leather jacket. "I-I heard you were coming into the neighborhood and I wanted to make sure you were getting settled alright on my way home from work." She explained shyly, and I smiled at the obvious lie.

"Your house is on the other side of Riverdale." I giggled, "And you're not in uniform." I called her out, causing her to blush.

"Well, I uh... I'm actually a detective now, you know, I don't really have a uniform, so..." She trailed off again, tucking her hand in her pocket again, closing the flaps over her battered old band tee.

"Interesting." I hummed, "Well, I just got home like, five minutes ago, so yeah, I'm not sure how I'm getting settled in." I chuckled awkwardly, and she cleared her throat in realization.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-I'll just get going then-"

"No, no," I chuckled, opening my doors further, and before she could turn away, she rose a brow at me, "I... uh, I was gonna go get some groceries," It wasn't a complete lie, really, but who doesn't need to eat while they take vengeance on the people who wronged them? "How about I take you with me, that way we can catch up?" I suggested, "I miss you."

I watched her tight lips turn up as those words processed in her head, and she nodded shortly after. I opened my door to let her in, and she walked in, looking around at my impersonal living space with curiosity.

"This is much..."

"Smaller?" I continued, and she chuckled.

"Yeah... I expected something much bigger." She relented, and I shrugged.

"One thing I learned in Japan is that the work you put into something is much more valuable than the money you put into it." I preached, and she rose a brow as I reached into my kitchen drawer for the key to my car.

"Is that where you were?" She asked, "I figured you'd be there, or India, Brazil. Somewhere peaceful and beautiful." She droned, and I hummed.

"I wasn't there for the beauty, or the peace, Toni. I was there for the learning experience." I divulged. "I learned from Monks about how to find happiness in myself, and in the people around me, instead of the materials I possess." it wasn't entirely lying, but a lot of that was just some stuff I'd seen in Karate Kid. I did go to Japan, but I didn't stay long, and I definitely didn't talk with Monks.

"Alright, let's go." I hummed, opening the door to the garage on the wall of the kitchen and turning on the light.

The lights shone down onto the rough red paint of the red Cadillac that sat in my garage. Oh, how I've missed her.

"So, I heard Fang's sister was your partner." I spurred the conversation through the silence, and she nodded.

"Yeah, Lulu and I have been partners for two years now, and she's honestly the best I could ask for." She smiled down at her hands, and I rose a brow.

"Do you two have something going on?" I asked, and she snorted.

"She's married." She divulged, "I haven't really been with anyone since..." She trailed off, and I nodded in understanding.

"I get it." I assured, "It still hurts to think of Heather. But I've learned that it helps to say her name. It's easier to remember that their memories are good, despite the bad things that happened to them." I tried, and it grew silent for a little over a minute before she broke the silence.

"Midge." She mumbled, and I rose a brow.

"Her name?" I asked, and she hummed in confirmation.

"Midge Klump."

God, what an atrocious name.

"Good job." I swallowed the Klump (intentional) in my throat before adjusting in my seat. It was awkward, and everything ran through my mind like the way she felt against my chest in that hospital bed, and the way her hand brushed against mine when she moved to turn the radio down to talk to me a few minutes ago, and the way her voice engulfed me, drowned me but kept me afloat at the same time. And the way I wanted to say so much to her, but I was afraid of getting close to someone again.

"Why did you leave without telling me?" She asked as we turned into the parking lot of the grocery store, and I turned the engine off to look up at her, losing my breath at the way the setting sun made her skin glow, warm, soft, inviting.

"I'm sorry." I said sincerely. "I'm bad at feelings... and people." I looked down at the steering wheel in silence, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah, but I'm not either. That doesn't mean it's okay for me to disappear and not tell people anything." She argued.

"I told Kevin."

"But you didn't tell me, Cheryl! Me, of all people." She snapped, and I reeled back in pain at the sting of her words.

"I should've told you." I whispered, and she chuckled sadly, a tear falling down her face.

"Yeah, I know. But you didn't did you? And yet, here I am, tired after a long day, and five years of waiting around, still showing up at your door and humiliating myself for you because you don't fucking get it." She exhaled, and I didn't know what to say.

What could I say?

All I've thought about for the last one thousand, nine hundred and sixty two days is you, and your smile, and your laugh, and your voice, and your name with mine, and your skin against mine, and your hands, and you nose when it crinkles up in concentration, or the way your big toe curls when you're excited about something. I've missed you more than anything I've ever missed in my entire life, even though I lost my twin brother, and the love of my life, so why don't you just kiss me so we can begin the rest of our lives together?

"I can't explain why I did what I did. I can only tell you that I'm sorry, and that wish I could make you feel better." It was automatic, and I couldn't even look her in the eye. I was looking off into the distance at a red leafed tree.

"I guess that isn't gonna happen then." She said lastly before opening the door to let herself out, storming away for the first time of many.

...

"Is that all...?" Asked the droning teenager at the sporting goods store I was in upon buying things, including a punching bag, some mats, gloves, and some other things, to which I shrugged, knowing I had most of what I needed already, stored in the trunk of my classic vehicle from before I even left Riverdale.

I carted the things out to my car and shoved everything in the back, along with the groceries from the other store, the one where I ruined something that could've been great.

I drove home to unload my stuff before finally readying myself to go out and prowl the night.

A red cape with a hood. It was leather, and tear resistant, for the most part, and it was a dark enough color that it would be easy for me to sneak around at night, undetected. Along with that, I have fabricated a quiver with a magnetic bottom that would keep my arrows within, given the fact that the bottom of each arrow holds a negative magnetic field, opposing the one at the pit of the quiver. A simple piece of red fabric is tied around my face to obscure my face from view, other than of my eyes, and I wore simple traction combat boots that would help keep me from slipping off of rooftops.

I looked on at myself in the mirror, my eyes flitting across my own naked front, the scars upon which I had become so accustomed to falling in my sights.

The round hole on my left shoulder, the gauge in the top region of my abdomen, the long, six inch gash permanently burned into my skin. The bullet hole just in front of my lungs. The cuts and scrapes against my arms and legs from so many times I've fallen, the long, dreadful gash along the bottom side of my right bicep that finally healed completely.

They were all reminders of what I had to do.

Reminders of who I had to kill.

I slipped on a pair of black joggers over a heavy layer of padding, plus a trustee utility belt, then a bulletproof vest, then a regular shirt, then a sweater, then my cloak, cloth and hood.

Something I had ordered of Kevin to purchase for me was a motorcycle, which was parked on the other side of the garage, allowing me to pull out into the dark. I zoomed down the street, passed a police escort, down an empty alley, and under a bridge that separated the south side from the north.

Thanks to my trusted informant, I knew that there was a black SUV that liked to exterminate young Southsiders, so to control the population and crime rates of midtown Riverdale.

It was disgusting, and it was only something a prim and proper Northsider could think up.

I came prepared with a specific arrowhead, heavy but effective, and I had it aimed out at the end of my longbow, my eye squinted as my breath spread through my lungs, sending around to my nerves. My hair stood up, and my blood was at ease as I awaited.

Luckily, nobody every tries to go into or come out of the south side, so it was easy to seek out the vehicle I needed.

I looked within, and I smirked at the blank plates and polished, faceless driver.

One shot was all it took for me to hit the gap of the grill, and when I did, I watched the red light flash, just in time for the one vehicle nearby to leave the bridge to the north side.

Kaboom.

The car was set aflame, chunks of metal and shrapnel flying everywhere.

Success.

I sat there, on the concrete pillar in the middle of the bridge, watching with dead eyes as the flames engulfed the people within.

Guns went off, then another bomb, ringing in my ears as I was made sure that nobody within the vehicle was still alive.

One down. Hundreds more to go.

I watched the lights from the police escorts come from the distance, and decided I'd make my leave. I jumped down and sprinted to the south side, hiding away in the shadows of the dark district of Riverdale.

I decided it was time I go visit that informant of mine.

I climbed up some fire escapes and shimmied up drain pipes to get to a high accesspoint, before shooting a grappling arrow at a specific fire escape. I retracted the string on the bow and used it to hang on the wire, swinging down into the escape. I lifted the window and slid through the opening before closing it and looking around the kept up apartment for my companion.

I opened the door to her bedroom and was shocked when I saw a pale pair of buttcheeks, wrapped in straps, greeting me, along with a loud moan from someone beneath those buttcheeks.

I was met with a pair of brown eyes looking up at me from behind her shoulders, and my eyes widened when her eyes rolled to the back of her head in a loud scream.

Oh.

I didn't know she even knew what sex was, let alone having happened to be good at it.

"Betty, baby, I'm sorry, but I can't get down with something that freaky." Apologized the woman in a heavy pant, and my blonde friend lifted herself up from the woman below.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your weird Robin Hood fetish." She divulged, causing Betty to look over her naked shoulder at me, green eyes widening before she pulled the duvet over her and dropped atop the girl.

"God, Ch..Shit!" She cried in surprise, "What are you doing here?!" She screeched, and I shrugged, placing my bow to lean against the wall where the front room and the bedroom met.

"I figured I'd greet my best friend." I tried to distort my voice the best I could, and Betty sighed.

"Close my door, I'll be right out." She demanded, and I did as she asked, closing the door and standing against the wall to listen in on their conversation.

"Who is that?" Asked her partner over the soft shuffling of drawers and clothes being shaken out. 

"An old friend from Sweetwater School." She exhaled.

"Why is she dressed like Walt Disney's wet dream?" She asked, causing me to chuckle to myself.

"I'll have to talk to her before explaining why," I heard them kiss. "I'll be back in here to finish what we started in a little bit, okay?" She asked, her voice low.

"I want to come out and talk too." She pouted, and I heard a heavy sigh.

"Count to three hundred, and then you're free to come out, alright?" She compromised before walking out, eying me with a glare. "Don't say a word." She demanded, rushing over to the table in her little dining room to rustle around amongst the little toys and wires. She grabbed a little screwdriver and tinkered with a little black speaker, the size of a dime. She quickly pressed it between her fingers before rushing up to me, causing me to jump back in surprise, but she rolled her eyes before pulling my hood down and pressing it against my jaw. "Okay, now." She nodded, giving me freedom to speak.

"How long has that been going on?" I asked, taken off guard by the deep sound of my voice, and she moved to plop herself into an armchair with a proud grin on her face.

"Sound frequency modifier!" She nodded excitedly, and I rose a brow, awaiting her to answer my question. How could I be proud of something so little after she managed to make eco friendly explosive arrows? Or a grappling arrow? Or a retractable bow string? "We've been together for three years." She rolled her eyes.

"What's her name?"

"Josie." Answered the girl from the doorway, a soft, kind smile on her face, a white button up shirt covering up her backside and breasts. She walked over and sat in Betty's lap before kissing her cheek. "And you are..?" She trailed expectantly, and I rose a brow to Betty, who shrugged.

"She's even smarter than she is sexy." She stated, as though I didn't already see that. "She gave me the idea for the immediacy of the frequency modifier."

"A real Fitzsimmons pairing, I see." I deadpanned before sighing. "We can trust her?" I asked, and she nodded solemnly.

"It's not like she has any friends besides me anyway." She jested, causing Josie to shrug.

"Just know that I know seven different ways to dismember a body with my bare hands, and I have enough resources to find you from any dark corner of this godforsaken planet." I threatened emptily, and she nodded almost immediately.

I sighed before removing my hood and untying my cloth to show her my face.

It was silent for a moment before she turned to Betty with a whispered remark.

"I did not expect that."


	3. Two

"Alright, Cheryl, you're gonna have to be really careful when you go down there, Wetherby's got three bodyguards, so if you can avoid killing them, that'd be great." I heard Josie in my ear, and I cleared my throat.

"How's Betty doing with the anesthesia darts?" I asked,my voice deep and raspy due to the frequency inducer on my neck.

"To be honest with you, baby, not great. She knocked herself out a couple minutes ago." Admitted the bartender through the coms in my ear, and I rolled my eyes before aiming my grappling hook at the awning over the back door to William Wetherby's inhumane strip club. He was using people who were brought in by sex trafficking as the girls to dance for the men in his club. Most of them were underage, and this is exactly what I was trying to cleanse the city of.

I zipped down, and flipped up so that I was perched on top of the awning, awaiting for him to make his leave, arrow drawn back at the entrance. It wasn't two seconds before the booming club sounds opened up, and out of the door came a bald head.

"Hey, Wetherby!" I growled, watching as his gaze lifted to me, eyes wide.

"Please, p-please, no!" He whimpered, recognizing me from news headlines. "I swear, I'll stop-"

"You'll stop talking now." I muttered down at the man, whose newly dead eyes were wide open, staring up at the sky in horror as one of those two eyes sported a nasty arrow, protruding from its socket.

"What the-" Some deep voice from below cut itself off, likely upon seeing me, so I quickly zipped back across the grappling, ignoring the shouts and calls, and running across the rooftops to climb down to safety. I stopped in an alley six blocks away from the scene, where my bike was, and drove home, when my eyes flashed to the red and blue lights a block over, zooming down mainstreet to see what had happened to William Wetherby.

"Ooh, girl, you already hit the news again." Josie warned me, and I sighed.

"I'm on my way over now." I assured before darting home as quickly as I could.

I parked my bike, closed the garage door and ran down to the basement as quickly as possible, hanging my cloak, belt, cloth, and quiver in their protective cases, as built by Josie and Betty with my resources, of course, before running around the training mats to the corner, where Josie and Betty sat atop the cot I set up down there, in case I hurt myself and needed to lay somewhere steryl and unseen by any person who so happened to come in.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead." I giggled as I pulled the padding out of my pants and unhooked my vest to throw onto the desk nearby.

"Cheryl, you need to be less reckless." Betty complained, and I rose a brow.

"Whatever are you talking about?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, causing the blonde to sigh before moving to sit at the chair by the computer desk to show me a piece of surveillance showing a lock of my red hair.

"Luckily for you, we caught it before anyone even thought to look at the old pub tapes, so you're safe, but I can't promise Josie can do catch this every time this happens. Put your hair in a braid, or ponytail next time. We don't even want them to think Dead Eye is a woman, let alone a redheaded woman."

"Hey, Dead Eye?" Spoke Josie from where she sat, looking on at the camera from the front door, and I rose a brow.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Your girlfriend is at the door."

Shit. I haven't talked to her since our fight two weeks ago.

Sure, I've lingered on in the night when she gets called in because of me. It makes me think she was assigned to my case. I didn't care though. She was my only real threat, the only thing that could stop me, so keeping her close could not only help my relationship with her, but it can help mislead her.

I was considered a vigilante by the police, but I was okay with that entirely, because no matter what I was considered, I knew immediately that I'm doing the right thing; getting rid of self-righteous fame mongrels and pedophiles to make this city safer for people.

"Toni, hey." I smiled nonchalantly, opening my door to let her in. She walked in, eyes flitting around my apartment again as I lead her back into my front room, seating myself in the middle of the sectional, now comfortable enough to no longer feel threatened, being in my own environment. "What can I do for you?" I asked, spreading my arms across the back of the house before one leg hoisted itself atop the piece of furniture in a power play I made to gain the upper hand.

Something I learned during my five years abroad.

"Well, uh, I just wanted to know if you heard anything about this... vigilante that suddenly came about?" Asked the pink haired detective, seating herself on the edge of the couch, a foot perched on the base of the cushion, legs spread apart as one foot stood, planted into the floor. Her left arm rested on her knee, the other one tucked into her pocket.

Her own power play.

Well done, Toni. Well done.

"Oh, definitely," I nodded in cluelessness, "I heard he's killing people." I tried, and she hummed.

"People with a lot of money. He's trying to play Robin Hood." she sighed, eyes wandering around the house before landing on me. "I just wanted to warn you, in case he tries to come after you. I'd hate for something to happen to you after... Y'know..." She trailed, looking down to her boot, "everything."

"Thank you for caring..." I exhaled, sitting forward to look into her eyes."I'm sorry, for... you know... Everything." I repeated, sliding along the sectional to get closer to her. "I really did miss you, Toni." I assured through my eyelashes, and she sighed.

"You could've at least called, texted, emailed even." She complained.

"I know, and I wish I had, but I knew that if I talked to you, I could just get back on a plane and not finish my healing process." I admitted, "I knew that I couldn't just talk to you when I knew that I didn't have to miss you if I stayed home." A tear fell from my eye, "But I missed you so much, Toni."

"I missed you too." She whimpered, sliding off of the arm of the couch to sit by my side and pull me into a hug.

This.

I missed this. Her heartbeat against mine, her arms around me, her aroma of coffee and vanilla, kissing me, the way I wish her lips would kiss mine.

It was what I've been missing since I came back into Riverdale. Even with revenue being at its peak, and everyone being happy I'm back. Even with making Josie as a new friend, I just wanted to be in the right with Toni, and if that wasn't happening, I couldn't really be happy while I was taking down the baddies of this city.

"Just promise me you're not doing anything corrupt." She muttered, and my eyes widened. I literally have been on patrol for two weeks and she figured me out? Maybe she deserves that detective role after all.

"What do yo-"

"He's targeting people in high society with bad morals and side hustles going on. That old Insurance salesman, Bill Button? He was killing kids from the southside, and now he's dead. The only thing on the scene that they found was a single arrowhead." She explained, her voice filled with wariness as she pulled away and took my hands in hers. "I don't want your strength to be in vain. I-I mean," She cleared her throat, and brought our hands to her lips, pressing them against my skin before bringing our knot to her chest. "I don't want to lose you again." She whispered, a single, sharp, crystal clear drop falling from her eye in the form of a tear, tracking down her cheek.

I caught it with my thumb, and wiped it away, allowing my hand to linger on her cheek, "I'm not going anywhere. Never again." I promised, and I noticed her eyes flit downward, to my lips, presumably. Her right hand come up to rest on my shoulder as she looked at me deeply, something in her eyes shifting as I sensed her leaning in.

I leaned in too, and I felt my heart leap forward when the skin of her lips just barely brushed against mine. I could feel her, I was almost exactly where I needed to be, in her embrace, when-

"Oh, we didn't know you had company over, Cheryl." Sounded the voice of Betty, causing Toni to pull away in a start. I snapped my head to the right, just in time to watch Josie's hand strike the back of her head.

"You should've just let them do their thing, baby!" She whisper-yelled, and I internally agreed.

"Hi..." she turned to me with a questioning look, and I cleared my throat.

"I'm so sorry about them, Toni," I chuckled, my eyes glaring at Betty, who wore a triumphant grin on her lips. "This is Betty, my..." I couldn't very well tell her that I met her when I was trolling Sweetwater Technical Institute for some smart arm candy to take to a family ball for credibility, could I? It didn't make me look good, and I didn't want her to think I was even remotely attracted to that Princess Poppy.

"Cousin." Betty finished, "I uh... I was put up for adoption when I was a baby, and I just found out that her dad was my dad's brother. When I found out she was back in town, I had to introduce myself." Josie and I exchanged what must've been identical looks of shock as Betty spouted out this lie. "This is Josie, my girlfriend." She offered to the taller girl, who smiled and stepped forward to shake Toni's hand.

"Hi, I've heard so much about you." She said politely, causing Toni to raise a brow in my direction, to which I shrugged. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I admire someone, I never have been. I've never been rejected, have you seen me? It doesn't help that I'm worth two million dollars either. "My mom is Captain Sierra Mccoy." She divulged, and three brows went up simultaneously with intrigue.

"No way, she's kinda like the mom I've always wanted." She said excitedly, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she leaned back against the back of my sectional, close to where I sat, the back of the couch being the only thing keeping me from feeling the warmth of her touch.

"That's great. She always talks about how she loves you, and Detectives Leatherbelly, Mantle and Andrews so much. She always told me I should meet you guys, and I guess I beat her to the introductions." She greeted kindly, and I watched Toni's demeanor shift to one of complete ease as she leaned back, her hands perched on the end of the sectional.

"It's weird, I mean, she's been our captain a year, and it feels like we've known each other our whole lives." She divulged, and Josie chuckled.

"I've been told we have that effect on people. We have really open minds and even further open hearts, so it's easy for people to trust us." She divulged.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm already kinda getting that." She chuckled, and there was a strange vibe in the room. It was almost electric as they smiled at each other.

I think Betty felt just as uncomfortable as I did, because we both made eye contact for a moment before I broke the silence.

"Well, uh... you're welcome to stay for dinner, if you'd like, I was just about to whip something together." I lied, and she chuckled before shaking her head with an appreciative smile.

"No, no. Thank you, Cheryl, but I'm actually on duty. Lucy's waiting in the car for me so we can go talk to some other people about the attack tonight." She sighed, and I rose a brow in faux shock.

"There was another attack by the vigilante tonight, and we're trying to find him before he kills another corporal titan. Hence why I came to you, to make sure you were okay." She elaborated, and I hummed.

"You don't have any leads?" Betty asked, arms crossed over her chest.

"No, all we have as evidence are the arrows he used. Some insanely high-tech weapons that we've had ballistics experts from LA, even Washington D.C. take a look at them. We've had technology CSI's check them out, and nobody recognizes it. They just know they're made of some titanium alloy of some type." She divulged, and I watched a smug look on Betty's face flash away as quickly as it had appeared, causing me to roll my eyes.

"And he's just some guy shooting people who are rich?" Josie asked, and Toni shook her head.

"He's targeting corrupt businessmen." She repeated from earlier.

"Oh, then Cheryl's fine." Scoffed Betty conspicuously, causing me to shoot her a warning glare.

"Right, I don't know why I felt the need to come down here. It's insane that Cheryl could do something the deserve being killed, right?" She chuckled, and the three of us exchanged looks before laughing.

"Maybe you just wanted a good excuse to see a special lady." Josie suggested with a wink, and I felt my heart snatch in my chest when she stole my gaze, a grin showing up.

"That has to be it." She grinned distractedly.

Our eye contact was cut short by the sound of loud honking coming from outside of my house.

"Oh, that's Lulu." She chuckled, "She's usually really patient, so I must've been in here a while." She assumed. "Lunch tomorrow, Cheryl?" She requested, and I hummed.

"It's a date." I assured, and she greeted everyone as she prepared herself to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She promised, and I hopped over the back of the couch to hug her. When we pulled away, she looked at me for just a moment before her lips fell to the skin of my cheek, then she left without another word.

"I cannot believe you interrupted me!" I whispered harshly to the blonde, fists balled as I awaited for the sound of her car's engine to disappear.

"Karma for when you walked in on Josie and I!"

...

I honestly hated running this dreaded company.

Blossom Industries was the most boring billion dollar company on the planet, and it angered me that of all industries to get stuck in, I was stuck running a chain of successful banks. All I had to deal with was money, and it was difficult, considering the fact that I did all I could to keep myself from the money.

It's what got me into my problem. 

There was no doubt in my mind that my brother and Heather were killed because of money. The name of the file he was searching for never left my mind.

DJL96.

I had no idea what was on it, but there was no reason it wouldn't be volatile. It sounded like something that could change, or possibly even ruin somebody's life.

Why? 

I've spent five years thinking about what could be on it. A video of him killing someone.

Or worse.

What could be worse than that though, really?

"Excuse me, Miss Blossom?"

"What is it, Jellybean?" I asked, and she sputtered for a moment before answering, her bright green eyes flitting around my big, empty office nervously.

"You have someone at the front lobby for you, Toni Topaz. She says she needs to talk to you." She informed, and I had to fight off a big, goofy grin.

"Go ahead and let her up." I smiled, looking down at the big oak desk in front of me in excitement, working my hardest to keep it inside my head.

"You didn't tell me you hired my little sister." I heard from the door of my office, and I snapped my head up to see her standing in front of Jellybean, whose green eyes were barely higher up than Toni's.

"You didn't tell me you had a little sister." I blinked, and she chuckled before walking further inside of the office, a white bag in her hand. Jellybean waved at me before closing my door, allowing Toni and I to have some privacy, other than the glass that were in place of walls, stopping us from having any visual privacy.

The things I do to remain a good employer.

"Jellybean is my half sister. We're not really close, we never really have been." She admitted as she sat across from me in a brown leather chair, setting the paper bag on my desk.

"Interesting. Why is that?" I asked, taking the bag and digging in, excited to see the burger from Pop's diner, the burger place beside the hospital I stayed in when I was recovering. Toni used to bring me burgers and a cherry malt shake on her way to me after work.

"Well, she was always upset at me for being better than her. When we were kids and we were in band at school, I used to get picked for solos, and she was never even put past an intermediate class. When we played with our friends, she would get picked last, even over my brother, who hates sports, but because he was taller, he was picked first. It didn't get really bad until I came out to her, and she let it slip to my dad." She admitted, and I rose a brow. "My dad wasn't upset about it, like he accepted me right away. He had practice since my brother told him he was asexual when he was like thirteen. But it doesn't change that she outed me, you know? And I was really upset about it for a long time, so it kind of ruined our relationship from when I was fifteen, until I was twenty two. We're just now getting close again, so it's not an issue anymore. It's totally my fault for being so petty." She sighed, and I shook my head as I finished chewing my bite of burger.

"I think you were justified." I assured, "I mean, it kinda happened differently for me. When I came out, my dad came around after a couple days, but my mom resented me for years. We never really reconciled." I admitted.

"I mean, I remember you saying you had a bad relationship, but I didn't know that was why." She hummed, reaching into the bag for her burger and fries.

"Yeah, well... The only person in my family I had a really good relationship with was Jj. He was the only person who really loved me growing up. And it's hard, knowing who's genuine in your life when you're one of the richest people in New York." I sighed, and Toni nodded.

"I could imagine," she said around a mouth full of fries. "I mean, remember, I grew up on the southside, I wouldn't know what it's like, coming from money, but I know what it's like, being a part of something that makes you a target." She said, referring to being a detective. "I get a lot of ugly stares from people I used to call family on the southside. I mean, I volunteer at the schools, and I still get sneered at."

"That's horrible. I mean, you put your life on the line everyday to make sure people are safe." I tried, and she sighed heavily.

"It's hard, because a lot of the people I have to arrest are my old friends, and kids whose diapers I changed when we were all sleeping in the trailer park. Now, I have to watch the system fail them, and take them into jail because of the shit they were forced to take on, without anyone to help them the right way." She shook her head sadly.

"I wish there was a way to fix that." I hummed, and she shrugged.

"I mean, proper education, and just a couple more job opportunities could change things for a lot of these kids." She shook her head, "I mean, I got a job at Pop's in high school, and suddenly, I didn't have the time to get into trouble, and I didn't need to sell drugs, because I already had money." She instanced, and I hummed.

I'm sure that could be arranged.

...

"Cheryl, try not to land on the roof of another car." Betty warned from the com in my ear, and I rolled my eyes from where I crouched, hovering around the corner from A Grundy International warehouse, which was the first link in the corporate branch.

Betty and Josie found out that the CEO and founder, Geraldine Grundy, wasn't just shipping the furniture she endorsed, but she was partnered with Wetherby in human trafficking. She let him choose who he wanted to buy before selling the children and teens off to rich old men with strange fetishes and perverted mindsets.

I was awaiting from the top of the building across from it.

"Do we really have to kill all of them?" Asked, Josie, and I rose a brow at nobody in particular. "I mean, if you kill off every corrupt person in the city, there are just more corrupt people who will come into power. Why don't you make an example out of them instead?" She asked, and I hummed.

"She just left the east entrance, Cheryl." Betty interrupted, and the adrenaline in my body spiked as I jumped from the roof, into a fire escape two floors down. I climbed and hopped from floor to floor before finally hitting the floor and drawing my bow from my back. I sprinted to her expensive black car.

"Geraldine Grundy!" I shouted through the frequency inhibitor, and watched as light brown hair flew over her shoulder, her eyes growing wide when she saw me. She dropped to her knees and begged immediately, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

"Oh, no, please!" She sobbed immediately, "Don't kill me, please, I have a family! I'll do anything!" She cried, and I sighed.

Time to use those new anesthesia darts.


	4. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to share with your friends.

This one has more Choni in it. But I just wanted to let you know that every chapter isn't going to have a lot of Choni in it, mostly because this is a story about Dead Eye/Cheryl, not her relationship with Toni. So yes, there will be a lot of Toni in the story, but you can't count on her being there all the time in the first handful of chapters, mostly because she doesn't even know about Cheryl, so she can't be around Toni 24/7 while she's on the streets as Dead Eye. I'm putting A LOT of time and effort into this story, because I want it to be set apart from the other superhero story I did, Voltage, but I want it to be authentic to me, and my style of writing. Tell me what you think, comment, vote, and share this with your friends. Enjoy ;)

"Breaking news; Grundy International Shipping founder, Geraldine Grundy was found, handcuffed to a dumpster behind the main Grundy International Warehouse last night. The police were tipped off by an anonymous source, saying that she was guilty of sex trafficking. Sources say that Grundy swore that Riverdale's vigilante is behind the attack. Now, this is reportedly, the only person who's ever seen him and has lived to tell the tale, so now, we question; who is this man that Grundy calls; 'Dead Eye?'"

"Aye, we made it!" Shouted Josie from where she sat in the computer chair in the corner of the basement. "What are you gonna do next, Dead Eye?" She winked, causing me to roll my eyes before removing my pants to put on the padding.

"What's the back entrance looking like?" I asked as I changed.

"I don't know, I can't see it, but Betty said I did a good job shaving last time she was back there."

"Not your back entrance!" I hissed in disgust, and Josie threw her head back in laughter.

"Yeah, I know, it's the same answer though. Kinda." She laughed before turning back to the laptop. "I finished installing the lock to the training room if you didn't notice." She said, glasses over her eyes, which were fixed on one of the three screens on the desk she sat at.

"I didn't," I admitted as I pulled the cloak over my shoulders, "but thank you." I mumbled. I've never been good with people, even when I was being a public figure with my brother. I've just always been a lot better with the physical things, rather than speaking on my emotions like most people.

"Cheryl, come look!" Betty demanded of me from the top of the stairs to the basement.

"We really need to think of a more efficient way to call each other around the house when we don't have our phones." I muttered as I moved to walk to the stairs.

"I'm already working for it!" Josie assured over her shoulder, and I hummed. I should really pay her for all this.

Eh, she's using my money to buy this stuff, and she keeps the change.

I'm fine.

"It's done." Grinned the blonde, sports bra-clad genius friend of mine, gesturing to the fence behind my house, about a hundred feet away from my house. She pulled a remote out of her pocket and pushed a button, causing a latch to release from the fence, opening like a gate to reveal my bike, only it looked different. Instead of being a polished blue, it was red.

"Okay, so I understand the gate thing, but why is it red?" I asked of my companion, and she smirked at me before pushing another button, causing something to shift, and the color turned back to its normal blue.

"It's a lunar powered image inducer plate!" She gushed, and I rose a brow. She started to run toward it, gesturing me to follow her. There were three switches added to the left handlebar, and she mounted it before flipping the first switch, which caused the gate to swing shut. The second one, right behind it, when she flipped it, made the color of the bike change back to that rusted red color. "You told me to solve the problem of you driving home in plane sight, so I rewired the circuits in your bike's computer so that it's affected by these plates, that changes the color of the exterior, while making the radio expel a rattling noise, to make it seem like it's a lot older, and rattier than it actually is. That way, if someone sees it, they won't recognize it as yours." She explained, dismounting the bike and flipping the switch to shut off the image inducers.

"What does this switch do?" I inquired, moving to flip it, only to have my hand swatted away.

"It's not done yet. If you flip it now, the bike will stall, and then blow up." She warned, and I held my hand in the other one, rubbing the sting away.

"First, interrupting Toni and I, and now, this, you better watch out, I know how to snap a human neck with one hand." I grumbled, and she waved me off before running further away from the house to show me another gate, about two hundred feet out. She grabbed the remote and clicked the same button from before, causing that fence to open, only just a little bit of it did, just enough for my bike to go inside with me atop. "That way nobody can see your house, and it's far enough away that nobody would think twice about it being you." We walked out of the small space, and she pointed out a long alley behind the fence, completely unoccupied. "Josie already scrubbed and looped any and all surveillance from the last few nights that linked Dead Eye to your house." Betty assured, "She has pre-looped evening recordings from all of the surveillance cameras stretching for the next three blocks in every direction, from here, on." she gloated, hands on her hips in pride of herself.

"How much did this all cost me?" I asked as we moved to turn back to the house.

"You don't wanna know. But I promise, it was worth it." She assured, and I sighed, only for my ears to peak when I heard a car door close from the front of my house. "Go inside, I'll see who it is." She assured, handing the remote to me before grabbing my bike and rolling it to the side of the garage to roll it in through the side door. I ran through the back of the house, rounded the table in my dining room, and bound down the stairs.

"Josie, who's at the door?" I asked, and she hummed, clicking into the screen on the left.

"Ooh," She hummed scandalously, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "It's Toooooniiii." she taunted, and I panicked, slipping my ratty pants off my legs to slip on my sweat pants. I threw the cape down, as well as the shirt and bulletproof jacket. "Girl, you shoulda wore a tank top beneath that thing. Don't it chafe against your rippled ass abs or sumn'?" Josie taunted, and I groaned.

"Let me borrow your shirt!" I whispered, and she looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'm not wearing a bra. Go get one real quick before you go outside, weird ass white girl." She suggested, and I sighed before running upstairs, opening the door and closing it directly behind me, only to be caught off guard by Toni looking at me from a few feet away.

"Uh, sorry, Cousin, I didn't see the wrench you were looking for." I lied, and Betty hummed from where she was standing, leaning against the doorway. "Hey, Tt, what are you doing here?" I asked, leaning against the closed door, and the leather clad woman crossed her arms over her chest as she looked up at me.

"I uh, I missed you." She smiled up at me slyly, "I figured I'd come say hi on my way home from working a case a few blocks down." She finished, and I hummed, seating myself at the kitchen table. "I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, I mean, Betty and I were just working on a tune up for my bike." I chuckled, and she rose a brow.

"Since when do you know how to ride motorcycles?" She giggled, "You basically jumped out of your skin when I told you I had one."

"Yeah, well we got around on scooters a lot in Japan, but I wanted something with a little more power here. I've found that when you'd been through what I've been through, there's not really much to be afraid of." I shrugged, draping my arm across the back of the chair I sat in as she joined me, sitting close to me in the chair closest by.

"I wish I could've been there." She mumbled, looking down at her hands, which folded together on top of the shoulder. "To see you ride for the first time."

"Oh, no," I laughed, "I'm happy to keep this fierce, badass reputation." I fronted, and she rose a brow.

"You're ticklish, and you like cuddling more than everyone else on the planet. You are not badass." She countered, and I hummed.

"I missed that." I reminisced, and she smiled at me.

"Maybe we should do it again sometime." She suggested, and I felt my heart flutter at the idea.

Holding her in my arms again.

Smelling that smell again.

It overpowered my thirst for justice. Just for tonight.

"I'd love that. We should watch a movie." I suggested, and she rose a brow.

"Tonight?" She inquired, causing me to shrug.

"Why not?"

Probably because I was supposed to go on patrol, but is it really healthy for me to go on patrol every night? I should maintain a social life.

And a sex life.

God, I miss sex.

I haven't had that since Heather died.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Cousin. I have to get home to Josie anyway, she probably forgot to eat, she got this new game last night and hasn't stop playing." She smiled, "I left my shirt on the toolbox in the basement." She chuckled nervously as she opened the basement door and disappeared behind it.

"Speaking of which," Toni hummed, looking at my bare abdomen, which was covered in my battle scars. "This is the first time I've seen them since they've healed." She reminded, and I chuckled.

"I've learned to live with them." I assured, "They're just as much a part of me as my arms and legs."

"Yeah, but it's easy to forget, when you compose yourself so well. It almost feel like it never happened." Her voice was soft, and sad, her eyes on her fingers again, as though she was afraid to look at me, or I'd melt.

I suddenly remembered that Betty announcing her leave was her warning me that she needed to grab Josie so she could leave us alone.

"How about we go get into some pajamas so we can watch something?" I suggested, and her eyes cast up at me, still sad as her lips smiled. I stood up and put my hand out for her to take before pulling her into the hallway, down to the far room, and opening the door.

She looked around my room, which was pretty normal, a bed with a night stand on both ends, a dresser across from it with a flat screen tv on the wall, a vanity with a big glass mirror and a soft, round, fuzzy red bench underneath. Next to the vanity was my closet.

I opened my second drawer to pull out some shorts and a pair of black jogging pants. I held them both up to Toni, who chose the sweats. I tossed them to her and pulled out a t-shirt to put, but before I could pull it over my head, Toni asked me a question.

"Why don't you just keep it off?" She asked, "It's warm enough to go without, and I don't mind." She shrugged, and I chuckled.

"Are you trying to get me naked?" I jested, and she grinned, shrugging as she stepped one step closer to me.

"Maybe I just like what I see." She shrugged with a sly grin, and I hummed before opting to put the shirt away.

"I'll go ahead and extend you the same invitation." I winked before walking out and closing my door. I made sure the door was completely shut before running down the hall, to the door and opening it to see the two standing at the top, listening through the wall.

"We were in my room, you idiots!" I hissed, and Josie shrugged.

"I got bored, and Betty didn't think it was appropriate to have sex against the door."

"I tried telling her the walls were soundproof, so she wouldn't be able to hear, so she tried using that as an argument on as to why it was acceptable to do it." Betty rolled her eyes at her girlfriend, who shrugged innocently.

"I have needs."

"Okay, you've wasted time, get out!" I whispered, forcing them out of the basement, and quickly out the door, just in time for Toni to open the door to my room.

"You're a lot taller than me," Toni giggled, pulling the pant legs up, only to reveal more inches of pant leg. I giggled and shook my head before insisting she come into the living room so we could watch a movie.

...

I woke up to the feeling of something touching my stomach with a feather light softness, and I opened my eyes to see Toni, lying in my arms, faced toward me, her head on my arm as she looked down at the scars protruding from my natural skin. Her finger traced the long one, and I felt my body buzz beneath her touch as she looked on in fascination. Her hand moved up, and she was toying with the tone in my abdomen, running her fingertips along each bump of my six pack.

I smiled at the sight, and I couldn't help but move my hand down to run my fingers through her hair, causing her body to seize up, and her head to snap in my direction.

"I-I'm sorry I-" She pulled her hand from my skin, and I interrupted her with a soft laugh.

"Don't worry about it, Toni." I promised. "I took those five years to myself so that I could prepare myself for intimacy again." I assured, "I'm not gonna lash out at you like you think I will, and I welcome curiosity." I promised, moving her hair from in front of her eyes, and I felt her body relax in my grasp. She reached her hand up and caressed my face softly, her fingers tricking along my jawline with a sense of softness I've never felt before.

"I missed you." She whispered, and I chuckled.

"I know." I smiled, looking down at her."You've got scars too." I pointed out, and she hummed, looking down briefly to the circular wound on her left rib cage.

"Lulu got shot twice already that day, and I knew that if she got shot again, she would've died, so I jumped in front of the gun." She laughed, "Maybe I shouldn't have lifted my arms up, because that bullet just barely missed my heart." I smiled, and shimmied down to look her directly in the eyes, our heads lying directly on the sectional as we looked at each other.

"You're so selfless." I mumbled, and Toni shook her head.

"Lulu is like a sister to me, I just did what I knew I had to do." She justified, and I shook my head.

"Call it what you want, you saved her life." I pointed out, circling my finger around the ring on her wound. "That's more heroic than anything I've ever been able to do." I hummed, and she opened her mouth to say something, before closing it again, her eyes not straying from their place, locked with mine. "I've never liked guns." I spoke up again, referring to the wound on her rib, "I've always thought they were too loud, and too scary. I think the world is better off without most guns. They lack grace, and personality, and it's really easy to misuse them." One of the reasons I use arrows. That, and I took archery classes, and even participated in tournaments. Arrows just made sense, honestly. I could stand out without being gruesome, or without giving away my identity.

"They get the job done, I guess." Toni chuckled, and it went silent for a few beats. It wasn't awkward, it was comfortable, like we were in our element, lying together on a small surface under an even smaller blanket, just the two of us. "Where do you think we'd be if you didn't leave?" Toni asked.

Honestly?

I'd either be dead or in prison.

Or, we'd be working on our second year of marriage.

I would never have let someone like you slip through my fingertips, Toni.

But I'm not the same person I used to be.

"Probably a lot less zen." I chuckled, and she hummed, scooting closer to me and wrapping her arm around my bare waist.

"You act like you're okay, and like everything is going great, but you're just as closed off as I expected you to be." She admitted, her chin against my shoulder. "It's okay though, I'll wait for you to see that I'm not going to hurt you."

You're wrong, Toni. This here, right now, lying to you, holding you and not kissing you, not being able to tell you how I feel. This is hurting me. You're already hurting me.

I'm sorry for what I'm about to do.

"It's funny how you think that there's something here." I said coldly, and she rose a brow.

"What?" She asked, her eyes turned down, and I rose a brow, turning my head to look at her, something that physically pained me to do, know what I was going to say to her.

"You thought I had feelings for you?" I asked with a laugh, and she lifted her chin, tearing her arm away from me as though I was on fire, and I felt my heart snatch in my chest.

I had to do this though.

She'd find me out, and I couldn't let that happen.

"I-I thought that you-"

"Well, you thought wrong." I interrupted, "All I see in you is a good time." I lied, rolling off of the couch and rounding it to go to my room, forcing my tears away from my eyes.

"Cheryl, I spent an entire month by your bedside." She said after me, "I know when you're lying." 

Shit.

"You don't know me the way you think you do." I grunted, and she laughed.

"Then let me know what I have to know, and I will." She resolved, and I chuckled, shaking my head as I reached into my wardrobe to get a clean shirt and pulled it over my head.

"It's not that easy." I shook my head, grabbing her shirt and pants and throwing them at her. I looked around for her jacket and shoes as she kept talking to me.

"It really is, Cheryl." She said to me as I did my best to ignore her. "Just, just tell me what's wrong!" She demanded, and I turned around, my hair flying in the air behind me as I tried to sneer at her as best I could, no matter how hard my chest ached.

"I'm not good for you!" I screamed, and she fisted her hair tightly in frustration before lashing at me as well.

"You're perfect for me! Cheryl, you don't understand, there's nobody else on this entire planet I care about more than you." She moved closer to me, and placed her hands on my arms, making me look into those soft, warm, brown eyes. I felt myself melting. "There's something here, I know it. Just say the words, and I won't leave." She mumbled, reaching a hand up at me to run her fingers through my hair. I felt myself begin to shake, my body ready to let out a sob. Instead, I let out a soft, monotone mutter.

"I'm the one who's been going around killing those elites."

I watched her soft smile turn up immediately, and her throat come out in a laugh.

"Yeah, right, okay. Now that the worst case scenario is out of the way, tell me what it really is." She demanded, and I let out a loud, angry groan.

"You're relentless!" I complained, walking around her and grabbing her shoes from the floor near the front door, and her keys from the counter. "I don't want to be with you!" I lied.

"You're lying." She countered.

"You're deflecting," I deflected.

"And you're a shitty liar." She crossed her arms over her bra clad chest. "You don't even have to tell me what's going on if you really don't want to, Cher." She assured, her tone changing, eyes shifting softly. "Just tell me, really, no lies. How do you feel about me? No games, no tricks, and no deflecting." She stepped closer, and took my hand, causing me to drop her belongings and walk in her direction, her hands holding mine as she looked at me deeply. "C'mon, don't shu-"

It was like I wasn't in control of my own body, but when I came back into my own head, my lips were on hers, my hands on her hips, my hips against hers as I pushed her against the wall beside us. I was rolling my tongue over hers, fighting for dominance as I breathed against her heavily, hums and moans coming from my lips as they caressed hers. Her hands snapped to my backside, and I gasped at the contact before shoving my knee between her thighs, allowing her to grind down onto while she massaged the flesh of my rear end.

God, it was exhilarating, my head was spinning. 

I was finally kissing her. I finally hand her in my hands, she was finally against me, and god did it feel amazing!

I felt her chest heave as I moved my lips down to her neck, sucking and biting the flesh there, trailing downward as her hands stripped my of my top, fingers raking up my back muscles, causing my body to roll against her, sweat quickly building up against me as I sank my teeth into the flesh of her ample bosom, my hands trailing up to unhook her bra when-

"Why the hell is there stuff blocking the door?" I heard Betty, and looked over my shoulder to see a pair of shocked blue eyes staring back at me. She smirked at me deviously, "I'll let you two put on some clothes." She winked, before closing the door behind her and I sighed in exasperation, dropping my head against Toni's chest. She laughed at me, I felt her body vibrate at it, and she ran her fingers through my hair softly.

"It's okay," She chuckled, leaning in to kiss the shell of my ear, her hands tugging on my hair sharply. "We'll finish this another time." She whispered, causing my body to shudder against her before I pulled away hesitantly.

"Betty, I'm literally going to break your neck!"


	5. Four

*Flashback*

"What does it mean?" Heather asked me, her beautiful green eyes piercing into me as she looked on at the inscription in the bow I used when I competed in archery competitions.

"'l'échec n'est pas permanent...'" I hummed, "means Failure isn't permanent." I told of my beloved, putting my arms around her waist and placing my chin in her shoulder as I looked on at her thumb, caressing the inscription on the very middle of the bow. "My father used to say it to me all the time when I'd fall off my bike or tie my shoe wrong, so I asked if he could get it inscribed." I placed my hands over hers, just to feel her warmth against mine even more. "It feels foolish now." I chuckled, "They obviously permanently failed to raise Jj and I."

"Maybe the inscription should be changed then." She smiled softly, turning her head to look over her shoulder at me. "How do you say, 'We learn from the mistakes of others?'" She asked, and I couldn't help but smile, my heart melting in my chest at her question.

"Nous apprenons des erreurs des autres." I hummed, and she did so back, turning to wrap her arms around my neck.

"Instead of blaming them for failing, you will learn from their mistakes by bettering yourself and making a difference for the world." She assured, placing her hand on my cheek to look me in the eyes deeply. "I'll be there, every step of the way. I promise." She assured, leaning in to kiss me deeply. I hummed, and brought my hands down around her thighs to lift her up and move her to the bed in my large bedroom. Her laugh rang in my ears as she bounced up slightly.

"I," I stopped to kiss her forehead as I straddled her. "Love you," I kissed her cheeks, and her neck repeatedly, eliciting giggled from her lips as she held me close, even in our playful state. "Sooooooo much!" I laughed before pulling my top over my head, throwing it off to the side and leaning down to pepper my fiance with kisses. "I'm never letting you go!" I laughed.

"Cheryl," I she giggled, "Cheryl!"

"Cheryl!"

\--

"Cheryl!!"

"Huh?" I asked, waking myself up from my sleep and meeting with another pretty pair of green eyes, though not the ones I had been dreaming about.

Or rather, remembering.

"I'm so sorry, but you have a detective in the lobby for you." Jellybean warned, and I hummed, a soft smile making its way to my face, knowing I got to see Toni today.

"Let her in." I smiled, and the raven haired woman nodded before disappearing. The door reopened minutes later, and instead of a short pink haired detective, I was met with sharp blue eyes and dark brown hair.

Jesus, she must've been six feet tall. Taller, actually. From what I could tell, she was around Jason's height, and he was 6'1.

"Hello, I'm Cheryl Blossom," I greeted, rounding my desk to shake her hand, craning my neck to look up at the tall, broad shouldered woman. "I own and operate Blossom Industries." I smiled, and the curly haired detective repaid my courtesy.

"I'm detective Leatherbelly with the Riverdale Police Division." She smiled brightly, her thin lips outshined by her bright white teeth.

"Oh, yeah, I know your partner, Toni. She talks about you a lot." I chuckled, and she grinned before tucking her hands into the pockets of her jeans jacket.

I read somewhere that ranking officers aren't supposed to hide their hands. It shows weakness, submission or guardlessness.

This told me that I wasn't in trouble, whatever it was.

"She talks about you a lot too." She chuckled, "I didn't think you'd know anything about me already." she admitted, and I waved her off before rounding my desk again and seating myself, gesturing for her to sit across from me.

"Well, my best friend is Kevin Keller." I divulged, and she hummed.

"My brother-in law." She concluded, "I guess you were bound to hear about me then." She chuckled.

"Well, you do have an amazing group of people around you." I commended, and she hummed. "What can I do for you this afternoon?" I inquired, and she cleared her throat.

"Right, I was cleaning the evidence locker of some old cases, and I found a box of things from the site of your parents' crash. I noticed that it was considered closed seven years ago, so that means the evidence is clear for disposal. I got together all the things that weren't completely destroyed in the fire, and thought you might want them." She divulged, pulling an evidence bag out of her pocket and setting it on the desk for me to see. "There wasn't much, but for all I know, this stuff could be important to you, so I wanted to make sure you got it."

"Thank you, Detective Leatherbelly, I-I don't know what to say." I blinked, and she chuckled, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it." She smiled, standing up from the chair in front of me. "I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you." She leaned over the table to shake my hand again. "And please, call me Lulu." She winked before making her leave.

Wow, she was really nice.

I quickly got up and locked my door before seating myself again and opening my laptop to block me off from any eyes peering through the glass walls of my office.

I opened the bag and dumped it onto my keyboard, noticing the four things laying in front of me. My mother and father's wedding rings, a large red marble, about the size of a golf ball, and exactly what I may have needed to find out who killed my family.

A USB drive.

...

"You couldn't have just done it yourself?" Josie asked from where she sat, in front of one of the computer screens, fingers clacking away at the keyboard as she prepared to open the file.

"What if it's corrupted or something?" I asked, and she sighed as she dragged the cursor to the new file and awaited for it to load.

The suspense was killing me, my heart pounding in my ears as those blue dots went on in a sequence, the sequence that made my heart ache.

Finally.

"It just looks like a photo album." Josie hummed, pushing the bridge of her glasses up her nose as she scrolled through the photos of my family, one by one. I sat down in a nearby rolling chair and rolled up, pushing her out of the way to look through them myself.

God, my mom looked absolutely sinister, her smile devious, eyes dark and unforgiving. My dad though, he was so kind, and I can see his nature in his eyes when I looked at the photos of he and my mother.

And then there was my brother.

My dear brother, Jason.

There were pictures from when we were babies, playing in the sand, two little redheaded children, laughing and playing, running through the sand and throwing water on each other, back when we had that vacation to Hawaii.

There must've been hundreds of photos, chronologically lined up in order from before we were born, until, I'm assuming, the last photo taken before they died.

There were so many pictures, it was overwhelming.

My chest grew tight as I thought about how much time I've missed with them all while they've been dead, until I felt myself grow light headed upon noticing something.

It was a photo of my mom and dad, posing next to him.

The man who killed Heather and Jason.

"Josie, who is this man?" I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat, and she hummed, turning from one monitor, to mine.

"That's Hiram Lodge." She told me, as though I should know exactly who that is. "The biggest corporate titan in America..?" She tried, and I shook my head, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes. She moved to google and searched up his name.

"CEO and founder of Lodge Incorporated?" I asked, and she sighed.

"He owns the biggest pharmaceutical company on the planet. He's even more loaded than you." She chuckled. "His net worth is like eighty six billion." She divulged.

"Then what the hell did he want with file DJL ninety six?" I asked, and she rose a brow.

"This is him?" She asked before sighing. "I had faith in him, after all the big names turning out to be big assholes, I expected him of all people to be good." She complained, and I sighed.

"Okay, I need to find out what he did that made this file so important." I established before getting dressed into my suit as quickly as I could.

"Hey, I got the last speaker installed!" I heard from above me, the voice of Betty, and I rose a brow at her girlfriend, who grinned.

"That's our way of communicating. You shout, 'Bombshell!' and then you speak. The speakers are in the smoke detectors, so nobody else will know about them." She grinned proudly. "Baby, you don't have to yell though." Josie assured, "It picks up your voice, even if you're whispering."

"Oh." Spoke Betty, "Well, everything out here is done. Cheryl, where are you headed tonight?" She asked, and I pulled the hood over my head.

...

"She looks so nice. Are you sure she's the one forcing teens on the south side to sell drugs?" Betty asked, and I grunted from where I was standing, perched on the side of a building as she walked from one car to another, so to avoid detection. It's been happening lately with celebrities and corporate higher ups, who fear their life because of me.

I drew my bow back, and aimed into her window. I was ready to let go when-

"Drop your weapon." I heard the familiar tone, and my blood ran cold. I pulled my bow and arrow apart so that one was in each hand, and I turned around, looking Toni in the eyes as I spoke through the frequency inducer.

"Please, detective," I said, giving my voice a shaky edge, just so she wouldn't recognize my tone. "I need you to let me go."

"Why would I?" She asked, glinting at me down the barrel of her gun. "You're a killer." She said in disgust, causing my heart to wrench.

"So are you." I assured, and she scoffed.

"I am not a killer."

"You mean to tell me that you have never taken a shot at someone at this end of the gun?" I asked, and she didn't even dare blink.

"I did it because those people posed an imminent threat to my wellbeing." She said stubbornly, and I chuckled.

"What about the wellbeing of everyone else?" I asked, "Not everyone has a gun, or the law to hide behind. The woman down there has killed hundreds of southside kids, and ruined the lives of even more, just to push her agenda onto them."

"What agenda?" She asked, and I reached into my pocket slowly, pulling out a small USB port of my own and tossing it to her. She caught it and looked at it, giving me the time to jump from the roof, shoot off a grappling arrow and swing to the ground. I shot an arrow at the tire of the SUV as it drove away, causing the car to skid and slow down. I chased after it as it began to slow down, elbowed the window until it shattered, and pricked this woman with an amnesia dart. I heard a click, and turned my head to see a gun in my face.

I lifted my hands again, this time met with blue eyes and long hair.

Lulu, god damn it.

"Riverdale Police Department, drop your weapon!" She screamed, and Josie spoke up through the coms.

"There's a truck headed your way and it's gonna come through the intersection! Four seconds."

"You are under arrest!" Lulu screamed, and I sighed, stepping back as she stepped forward, gun raised between my eyes.

Two.

One.

Zero.

The truck zoomed between us, and I shot off the grappling arrow and drew myself in, allowing it to drag me away in enough time to dodge the police.

"Why didn't you tell me they were here?" I hissed.

"I didn't see them." Josie justified.

"Yeah, I didn't either."

"Where could they have come from?" I asked once I finished climbing into the back of the truck's bed.

"There's an entire dark spot about a block back. They must've figured out you were using surveillance and decided to use the dark route." Betty suggested.

"Yeah, okay, but how did they know she was gonna be there in the first place?"

"Josie has a point." I hummed, my eyes shifting to the generous dent I put in the side of this man's pickup. I decided to stick a magnet onto the bed of the truck with a few hundred dollar bills to pay for the damage I did before jumping out of the side of the truck, seemingly going unnoticed.

I ran down a few alleys until I reached Juniper Rd, the street that met with the alley I hid my bike in.

I mounted it, and zoomed down as many backroads as possible before reaching the alley behind my house. I flipped the switch and awaited for the first fence to open, then the second. I rolled my bike into the side of the garage before locking it up and going inside.

I was about to make my way down to the basement, until I heard a knock sound at my front door.

"Seriously? She does realize that it's weird to show up at someone's house unannounced, right? Let alone at eleven at night." Betty suggested, and I grunted before rushing to go get unchanged in my room instead of the basement. I shoved all my stuff under my bed and put on a shirt and some shorts before running to the front room to turn on the tv.

"Toni? What are you doing here so late?" I asked, faking a yawn, and she rose a brow at me, a soft smile on her face.

"I just haven't seen you in a few days, so I wanted to step by, say hello. I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so late, or that you slept before two in the morning." She chuckled, and I scratched the back of my head before stepping aside for her to step inside.

"Well, how about I give you my number? That way you can call me before you come over." I chuckled.

"That sounds fantastic." She chuckled, and I returned it before reaching a hand out for her phone. I put my number in, and just smiled at her pretty face. '

God, she was so good at her job, and seeing the contrast from here and just a few minutes ago was alarming. I felt myself shudder at the idea, and she rose a brow.

"Cold?" She assumed, and I hummed, taking the lapels of her leather jacket and pulling her closer.

"Why don't you..." I nudged her chin with my nose, "warm me up?" I suggested, and she chuckled, sliding her hands under the fabric of my top, over my back to pull me closer this time. I definitely wasn't cold, but if it meant I could touch her, it was worth it.

"Mm, I wish I could, but I have to go across town to process some new evidence." She cooed, leaning her forehead against mine, her eyes closed as she hesitated to move.

"Do you have to?" I pouted, wrapping my arms around her waist to pull her closer.

"I do..." She whined, taking one of my hands between both of hers and kissing the flesh of both my knuckles. "I have the day off tomorrow." She rose her brows, "I'll pick you up from work and we can explore the city?" She suggested, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, that would be great." I assured, and she met my smile with one of her own, the kind that dazzled me, and left me almost paralyzed. She leaned up to kiss my lips chastely before turning around and leaving, her eyes lingering over her shoulder as she walked to her own bike, mounted it, and waved before zooming away.

God, this was such a bad idea.

She was going to stop me from doing my job as efficiently, because she's always here, even when she's not.

Why did she have to be a detective of all things?

She couldn't have been a doctor, or a lawyer? I'd even take a barista, but a detective? What kind of sick game was my heart playing with me?

Have feelings for the one person who could very well take you down in the end, both with your heart, and with a gun.

"You okay?" I heard from behind me and noticed Betty, looking up at me from the doorway, her arms crossed over her shoulder, and I shrugged.

"I hate this." I admitted, "I'm killing myself, splitting my life into Dead Eye and Cheryl. I mean, usually I wouldn't have a problem with it if I didn't have to keep it from Toni, but Toni would arrest me if she knew." I groaned, sitting on the sectional and dropping my head in my hands.

"I'm sorry, Cher." Betty sighed, sitting beside me and placing her hand on my back. She stroked my back softly, "I know it sucks, but you already said it, this is necessary for the wellbeing of this town. If anything, you're helping Toni's safety. You're doing good things here, I promise." She cooed, pulling me in for a hug as I laid my head against her chest softly.

"Hey guys, I got a plan for the whole Hiram thing."


	6. Five

*Flashback*

"This just in; Cheryl Blossom, daughter of Clifford and Penelope Blossom was brought into the hospital last week after an attack on her, brother, Jason Blossom, and fiance, Heather Hornsby ensued. Sources say she has no memory of the incident, only that she is the only remaining heir to the throne at Blossom Industries, after the tragic passing of her brother and girlfriend.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots, followed by screaming, and more gunshots in a matter of twenty minutes, outside of Tates, late Saturday evening. Several officers on scene would not comment on the investigation, or the state of the three victims.

We reached out to the first responder, officer Toni Topaz, but she had nothing to say-"

"Why do you watch that stuff?" I heard from the door to my room, startling me from my teary eyed stupor. "There's nothing you can gain from it." Toni assured, removing her hat from her head as she approached me, and I sighed, turning the television off.

"I just want someone to catch the person who killed my family." I mumbled, and she sighed, sitting in the chair beside my bed.

"I know the person heading your case." She assured, "You're in good hands, I promise." She assured, and my eyes shifted to her in distrust.

"For all I know, it could've been you." I mumbled, knowing it wasn't, but not willing to let anyone know I knew. I didn't want people to ask me about it, and what if the man found out I was alive and went after me before police could surely identify him? There was no way I was going to allow anyone to know what I knew. Especially not this random beat cop who wouldn't leave me alone.

"It takes time to trust, I understand." She hummed, a soft, patient smile on her face as she took my hand from beside me. "I'll show you, I'm a good person to entrust."

\--

"Hey, Miz Blossom?" Asked Jellybean, green eyes peeking around the door to look at me.

"Yes, Jellybean?" I asked, sitting up straight, hands folded atop my perfectly immaculate desk as I awaited for her to come in for the last fifteen minutes.

"Hiram Lodge from Lodge Pharmaceutical Incorporated is here to see you." She informed, and I grinned, the sinister intentions hidden in my mind with the imagination I put into what would happen once this plan was in motion.

Sweet revenge.

"Yes, please, let him in." I smiled, and she rose a brow at me momentarily, likely unsure on as to why I suddenly didn't look like I hated my job, before heeding my request and leaving.

I had to keep myself composed when seeing him, no matter what. This was the man who killed my girlfriend, and my brother, and now that I think about it, probably my parents too.

There was no evidence pointing to it, but there wasn't any evidence linking him to my attack either. That didn't mean it never happened.

"Hello, Mister Lodge, come in." I smiled, rounding my desk to shake the hand of the tan man with the very expensive suit and the disgusting agenda.

Whatever that may be.

"Hello, Miz Blossom, it's so nice to finally meet you." He smiled at me as we locked eyes, and I felt my stomach churn in recognition.

"The pleasure is mine, honestly." I gave him a tight lipped smile, and he nodded. "Please, come sit." I insisted, as I had a week prior with Lulu, and he sat in the chair beside it.

The chair beside the one Lulu sat in last week, and even Toni sat in, was the exact same, only it was higher up. Hiram sitting in the taller seat meant that he made a strategic move. A power play he made to intimidate me into settling for a smaller deal.

You could argue that he just felt comfortable in the taller chair, but if that was the common instinct, Lulu would've sat in it, considering the fact that she's considerably taller than Hiram, but she didn't. She was subconsciously okay with submitting to me in my environment.

But Hiram made the conscious decision to sit here, because he was trying to put himself above me. It's basic sociology.

Not today, dickhead.

I lifted the bar beneath my chair to bring my chair up to its full height and sat down in it, crossing my legs and resting my locked hands on my knees.

"So, tell me, what would I get out of our partnership?" I asked, and he chuckled, leaning back to feel comfortable.

He was trying to make himself seem unbothered by my antics. A lie. He obviously doesn't like the idea of being bested by a woman, because given the way he so adamantly assumed I didn't know where the file was on that fateful night, and that Jason did, he's a misogynist. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran his daily life the same way, in all honesty.

"Why don't we get to know each other first though, shall we?" He chuckled, "I'd like to know everything about a potential partner before I make my decision."

Well, you already know what my insides look like, you've seen me half naked, and you 've seen me cry.

That's more than most, Hiram, don't you think?

"Of course, what would you like to know?" I asked, sitting back and moving my hands to rest on my lap.

"Well, you left, what? Five years ago? Where did you go?" He asked, and I hummed.

"Asia," I smiled, my eyes closed slightly, as though I was remembering where I was. "I stayed with a Buddhist Monk in Japan, lived off the land and learned how to become one with myself, considering I became the only person left in my life." I answered, and he hummed.

"Did that make you a better person?" He asked, and I nodded.

It definitely made me stronger, if that's what you're asking.

"I was very angry at myself, for not remembering who it was that attacked me. For the months leading up to my trip, I was always so angry, and I remember contemplated suicide, so instead of giving my attacker that kind of satisfaction, I left, so that I could come back, and show them just how great I'm doing."

"You're so strong." He sighed in fake sincerity.

You have no fucking idea.

"No," I chuckled, "I'm just a person who went through something unfortunate." I assured.

"You have calluses on your palms and fingertips." He pointed out.

"I play the guitar." I chuckled, "Heather used to ask me to sing her to sleep, so I play whenever I miss her." Half of that was true, I used to sing to Heather to sleep, and play for her, but I hate playing now. It makes me angry and serves as just another reminder that I've lost something. The calluses her from the bow strings, the bow, and all the training I do.

"It must be lonely," He assumed, "living in a big, empty house all by yourself."

"I don't spend much time inside," I lied, "I like to walk around the neighborhoods and sight see. It feels less lonely when you make friends in the neighborhoods you pass by everyday."

"You seem very kind and selfless." He smiled, shoulders having rested as he seemed to calm down, his suspicions of me subsiding.

He was smarter than I gave him credit for, honestly. He likely connected the dots of Dead Eye showing up at the same time as I did.

"No," I chuckled, "I was self indulgent for so long that I felt like I can never truly be considered selfless." I assured, "At the most, I'm self aware."

"Tell me then, what do you think about this new vigilante, Dead Eye?"

Whoop, there it is.

"The arrow guy?" I asked, and he nodded, "I think it's absurd of him to play God, executing people like it was his purpose," I divulged, and I watched his lip purse before adding, "but I can't say I'm not happy to see people like that being taken to justice. The deaths were unnecessary, but with Penny Peabody and that woman, Grundy? Yeah, I hope he shows everyone the same mercy, because everyone deserves a second chance.

Everyone but your despicable highness.

"Interesting." He hummed, "You seem to have a lot to say about this."

"Yeah, I have a friend who works in law enforcement, and he was talking to me about it before Dead Shot got his stupid nickname." I rolled my eyes, and he chuckled.

"Dead Eye, you mean?" He corrected, and I fought everything in me to stop the eyeroll forcing its way through my body.

Anything to be right over a woman, right, Hiram?

"Of course," I chuckled, and he cleared his throat and moved his hands down his legs before standing up.

"I had a nice time speaking with you, I'd like to schedule another meeting with you for next month to talk numbers." He requested, and I nodded, standing up to shake his hand.

"Of course, I look forward to it."

...

"Tell me again why he's supposed to be some saint." I demanded through my breath as I pulled myself up onto the bar that was bolted into the wooden beam at the ceiling of my basement.

"He'd probably be a trillionaire if he hadn't donated like hundreds of millions of dollars to charities and homeless shelters." Josie divulged as she held a bar steady for Betty to weld into place as a makeshift cell, considering the fact that I planned on using it on Hiram once our plan was finished.

"It actually went up to a billion dollars in donated funds this month." Betty piped, and I rose a brow.

"Yeah, and he works really closely with low income organizations, so he sells his products a lot cheaper than other companies. And by a lot, I mean, like, a tenth of the price." Josie explained.

"How could he be so rich then, if he doesn't even really profit that much?" I hummed. "There has to be something there. The file must've exposed something horrible." I assumed, and Betty shrugged.

"I don't know, but can we talk about tonight's perp?" She inquired, and Josie shot her a look.

"Are you sure you want me to do this, Betty?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"He may be my father, but he was abusive to my mom, my sister and I. I don't care about him, so yes, I'm sure. He's just as bad as the rest of them." She assured.

"Okay. But I can back down if you still want to." I promised, and she smiled softly.

"Really, don't worry about it. I literally couldn't care less." She promised.

...

"Okay, the window is open, so you're just gonna slip inside and shoot him." Josie assured, and I hummed from where I was standing atop a building that was level with the window of Hal Cooper's office.

Hal was mostly just a grade A asshole, but with that, he was one of those men who used his position of power to manipulate women into sleeping with him for raises and promotions, and he touched them inappropriately. If they declined him, they'd get fired or laid off.

He was disgusting, and I was happy that Betty was okay with me killing the bastard.

"Are you sure about this, Betty?" I inquired.

"You don't understand, Cher. I want him to die, I always have, and I can't wait for him to be gone from this world. Please, kill him." She insisted, and I cleared my throat before shooting off a grappling arrow and swinging to the window. I slid inside and waited for the man to come in and grab his things to go home.

I hid behind his wooden door, awaiting for him to enter, when I realized the wood was covered in red, white and blue fabric. I blinked through the dark of the office, and noticed the stars, and the big X in the middle of the flag.

"You've got to be kidding me." I murmured. "You didn't tell me your dad was a white supremacist."

"I had no idea." Betty said, her tone in obvious discontent.

"Well, he has a confederate flag on his door."

"No wonder your dad hates you." Giggled Josie, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Oh, shh, I hear footsteps." I whispered, standing up straight and looking through the crack of the open door for him. The unfit man walked through and leaned down to grab his suitcase from the floor.

I slammed the door shut, and he snapped his neck to look at me, eyes suddenly flashing with fear as he processed who was meeting his gaze.

"Tell him that I said I hate him." Betty spoke up, and I heard Josie slap her arm.

"Don't do that."

"Dead Eye." He whispered, his face going pale as he shuffled back into his window.

"That's me." The frequency inducer amplified, "Say goodbye." I demanded, drawing my bow back, and he put his hands up in surrender.

"Goodbye." He smiled, and I let go of the arrow tail, sending it to lodge into his chest. He fell back against the wall, and I whistled for a moment before moving to step over his body. I grabbed the rope of the grappling arrow and hung there for a moment before throwing an explosive dart at the closed door, allowing it to stick through the ugly flag of hatred, into the wood. I quickly slid down the rope, and was on the ground, across the street in time to watch the explosion occur.

"Dead Eye, doing God's work." Josie said solemnly, and I giggled, shaking my head before running a few blocks to my motorcycle.

...

"At least he has some morals and values," I shrugged with the roll of my eyes from where I sat beside Toni on my couch, where we watched some Nancy Grace rant about Dead Eye, "Destroying that confederate flag."

"As a woman of color, I agree, but as a person of the law, I can't say I condone this type of behavior." Toni hummed, chomping on a piece of popcorn.

"Are you saying you agree with him?" I asked with the raise of my brow.

"Absolutely not." She refused with a soft smile on him, "I think he needs to stop playing judge, jury and executioner, but he has helped us on some cases we've been unable to crack, like several missing person's cases and things like that." She was willing to admit.

This was the 'friend' in law enforcement I was talking to Hiram about, but I couldn't admit that to him, not that it was even a woman, let alone who she was.

I could never involve her in my drama. What if he did to her what he did to me? Or worse, Jason and Heather?

Him thinking she was a man was for the best.

"I think he'd be a big help if he worked with us, like us." She divulged, and I hummed.

"What would you do if you found out he was your best friend?" I inquired, and she scoffed.

"I would be outraged." She admitted, "At him, and myself, for not seeing it. It would definitely destroy our friendship, and my confidence in myself as a detective."

Oh boy.

"That sounds awful." I hummed.

"Yeah, but it's a good thing that everyone I know is too good for that." She grinned, kissing my cheek before lying her head back in my chest.

Wow, that was a bad response.

"I love this," Toni hummed, looking up at me, "cuddling on a fall evening in sweatpants, watching terrible night time TV, and just being with you." She smiled, and I couldn't help but feel my heart flutter at the feeling of her being so happy.

"I'm glad." I hummed, and she sat up, pulling me to do the same.

"Tell me something;" She required, "what was the best part of being in Asia?" She asked.

"Honestly?" I inquired, and she nodded, listening intently.

"The sunsets." It was true. Everywhere I was was amazing. "Mainly though, because I was able to imagine that you were looking up at the moon while I waited for it to come up." I admitted, and I watched her lips quirk up, with her eyes, in this sense of adoration for my answer.

"The best part was when it ended." I charmed as her head moved closer to mine.

"I left work when Lulu told me you were home." She admitted, "I was so excited to see you that I told my captain that I was going on patrol." She hummed. "And when I finally saw you, I thought I would cry if I didn't get to hold you again." Her eyes kept falling to my lips as she leaned closer, "There wasn't a day where I didn't think of you." Shr admitted, "There wasn't a night..." She trailed off, meeting my eyes with hers, her fingers trailing along the top of my thigh through my sweatpants. "Where I didn't dream of you." Her breath was on mine, and I could feel her chest heaving.

"I've also thought of you while I touched myself." I reciprocated, mentally kicking myself.

Man, seven years without sex of flirting was really taking a toll on me.

Luckily, Toni chuckled, and leaned forward to attach her lips with mine, her neck rolling against me as we teased each other slightly, her fingers moving up to trail along my abdomen. She stroked my tongue with hers, and I reached up to tangle my fingers in her hair, to pull her closer to me.

She moved to lean over me, but instead, I moved to step onto the floor, hoisting her up to straddle me. She laughed excitedly at the suddenness, and I smiled against her lips, not detaching them as I walked down the hallway and lowered her onto the bed as I crawled up the length of it. I set her down and pulled my sweater over my head, sliding my pants off of my legs before sliding her pants from her own legs.

"Can I make you mine tonight?" I whispered, nudging my nose against hers, and she breathed heavily, nodding against me. I smiled at her permission, and moved my knee between her thighs, rolling my leg against her sex as I unzipped her sweater, leaving her glorious breasts completely uncovered. I immediately noticed a little tattoo, one I'd seen on Betty, meaning she was a part of the same gang as her. It was the letter S, that slithered on her rib on the outside of her breast, beneath her right arm.

I'll admit, I didn't see it coming. But I like the layers to her personality, beyond law-enforcing detective with a soft spot for little dogs and ugly white baseball players.

She told me once that her first crush was on some guy from a baseball team while she was growing up.

Anyway... 

Her brown nipples were already erect, and I took one between my lips, my fingers on my left hand feeling around the bumps of her ridged nipple as I teeth tigged on the wrinkly flesh. SHe moaned, her back arching slightly into my mouth, and I smirked against her gloriously warm tan skin. My fingertips trickled down her beautiful stretch marks, and took my time moving from one breast to the other, my light hand caressing the swell of her breast from the side. I held her waist softly as I slowly moved down her stomach, dragging my tongue in a long, deliberate strok past her belly button, to the line of her blue panties.

I slid them down her surprisingly long legs, and eyed her soaked centre, my mouth watering in anticipation of having my tongue sliding between her cavern.

I caressed her thighs and nudged her clit with my tongue once, before moving it from there, down between her folds. I felt my own sex throb in pleasure of touching her when her hands snapped down to my head, tugging my hair so that I was being forced up, to tongue her bundle of nerves. I dipped a single finger inside of her entrance, allowing her wals to tighten around it, her throat constricting with noises of satisfaction, my fingers being coated in her arousal, which my tongue eagerly lapped up, awaiting for her body to tense up.

I watched her eyes roll to the back of her head, her lips part, and her throat tighten as she reached her climax, and I slowly rode out her ecstacy, not removing my finger until her body was completely slack. I pulled my finger out and moved to slide it between my lips, when her hand took my wrist, and she sucked the digit into her mouth, cleaning her juices away. I felt my sex throb, and leaned down to clean her arousal from her thighs, and her sex, allowing it to remain on my tongue before I surged up and licked her tongue. I felt her thighs tremble, and I heard her moan against me when she licked her own sex from my tongue, her hands clinging to my nearly bare backside and pulling my against her as she stroked my tongue with hers.

She quickly swung her leg over my body until she was kissing my neck, biting and sucking until she was satisfied. She delved her fingers inside of the fabric of my panties, and began to pepper my abdomen with wet kisses as her fingers circled my clit. I rolled my hips against her, and she tongued the circular scar on my pelvis, causing my walls to clench for some reason. She moved down between my thighs and licked the patch over my panties, making the wetness stand out more before she pulled them aside and nuzzled her tongue between my soaking wet lips, gathering my wetness before circling my entrance, and going back up to toy with my sensitive clit.

My thighs quivered with each rapid flick of her tongue, and it didn't take long before I felt my stomach tighten, and my body thrash as I crashed into my orgasm.

I came with a heavy gasp, my chest heaving, breath harsh as I looked up at the ceiling fan and awaited Toni to let up on me. 

When she did, I was met with her naked flesh against mine, and I felt her chest beating against my ribs, her arm wrapped around my torso as I laid against the mattress. She kissed the bullet scar over my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, feeling a small bump on her shoulder blade. I ran my finger back and forth on the inch long bump for a moment, until she explained to me what it was.

"I was stabbed by a heroin addict six months ago." She hummed.

"Where'd you get the tattoo?" I asked, and she looked up at me with a grin.

"I lived on the south side of Riverdale since I was a baby." She divulged, "Sometimes the only way to stay safe is to join groups of people you wouldn't otherwise spend time around." She admitted, and I hummed.

"So, you're a gang member?" I asked, and she giggled.

"It's not as dangerous as a real gang." She assured, "and they respect that I retired." She assured. 

"My cousin is a Serpent too." I hummed, and she rose a brow.

"Betty?" She inquired, and I hummed with an affirmative nod. "She joined for the same reason, I think. Josie got beat up one time on her way home one night, so she decided to join the serpents so that Josie would be protected by association." I divulged.

"If someone hurt my girlfriend, I'd break their neck." She admitted, and I rose a brow.

"I thought you were an officer of the law." I teased.

"Yeah, well I'm a protective girlfriend first, so the person who put hands on my girl would wish they hadn't." She assured, clenching her fist for emphasis, causing me to giggle.

"Well, I'm happy I'm in good hands."


	7. Six

"Hey, Lulu, what's up?" I smiled from my door, my hair messy as I looked up at her. I was wearing Toni's sweats and my own bra. I accidentally put hers on, so they were really short compared to my legs.

"Good morning, Cheryl." She grinned, blue-silver eyes raking over me knowingly.

"I called Toni this morning and she didn't answer, so I stopped by her apartment, didn't see her bike. I figured she would be here, and I was right." She chuckled, gripping the edges of her leather jacket. "I just needed to talk to her for a minute, if that's okay." She smiled, and I hummed, opening the door for her to come inside.

"I'll go wake her up." I smiled, "You can pour yourself some coffee if you'd like." I offered, and she smiled.

"Thank you so much, Cheryl."

"Toni!" I yelled down the hall, "Toni!!!" I called, walking to the bed and pulling the blanket off of her.

She didn't move at all.

I sighed and kneeled onto the bed, leaning over her and kissing her face.

"Toni, it's time to wake up." I hummed, and she groaned, curling her head into her naked body. I giggled and laid my hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly. "Good morning," I sang, and I watched her lips quirk up into a soft, sleepy smile.

"It's time to wake up." I hummed, and she turned her head with a smile, moving to kiss my lips, but I stopped her. "Your breath smells, and your partner is in my kitchen, waiting to talk to you." I said monotonously, and I watched her head snap up at me over her shoulder.

"Seriously?" She whispered loudly, and I chuckled, reaching to the side for my shirt.

"She said it would just be for a few minutes." I grinned, dropping the top on her face. "I'll keep her company while you fix yourself."

"Thank you." She groaned, peeling herself out of my bed. I grabbed a tank top from my drawer and ran into the kitchen to talk to Lulu, who was leaning against the counter by the coffee pot, which was already full.

"So, how was your evening?" I asked, and she chuckled.

"It was nice," She nodded, "my wife just got back from a business trip, so I cooked her dinner, and we had a nice, romantic night." She hummed, and I rose a brow.

"Ah, you can cook?" I grinned.

"Oh yeah," Chuckled Toni from behind me, having walked out in just my shirt, which just barely covered her rear end. "You should taste her pozole." She hummed, eyes closed in bliss as she rubbed her flat stomach in a circle. "I can't wait for Thanksgiving just for that." She moaned, and Lulu grinned.

"I'm making Dutch apple pie this year too." She gloated, and Toni threw her head back in a dramatic moan.

"I don't want to wait a month!" She complained, and Lulu rolled her eyes.

"Come over for dinner sometime, Veronica would love to have you." She smiled, "Both of you." She grinned, eying us back and forth.

"What do you think?" Toni asked, looking up at me in wonder.

"I always have time in the evenings, why not?" I chuckled, and Toni's eyes shined.

"Amazing." She hummed before looking up to her partner. "So, what did you need?" She inquired, and Lulu cleared her throat.

"Can I talk to you in private?" She asked Toni, who moved to go toward the door outside, and I stopped them.

"I have to go down and get some tools from the basement to work on my car." I assured, "I'll just go down there while you talk up here." I allowed before stepping downstairs and closing the door, running down the stairs.

"Bombshell, kitchen sound on." I spoke, and the speakers in the basement beeped, before the sound faded into my room.

I was assuming it was about Dead Eye, and I was right.

"I'm telling you, I think Dead Eye is a woman." Lulu muttered, and I heard Toni scoff.

"C'mon, Lu, I stood next to him, I watched him move. There's no way Dead Eye is a girl." She laughed.

"Maybe she trained for that." She assured, "I can't dismiss it, she's only killed her male victims, and she's arrested the women. She's short, way too short to be a man. She wouldn't be able to run the way she does if she was a man, because men don't have the muscles in their calves like women."

"Look, I-I would usually trust your judgement, but I think you're wrong." She swore, and I heard Lulu sighed.

"Toni, I have no doubt in my mind that she's a woman." She swore. "And tell me, who came into town at the same time that Dead Eye did?"

"Dude," Toni chuckled, "I know Cheryl, she's a sweetheart, last week, she wouldn't even kill the mosquito that was flying around the room." She swore, "I literally visited Cheryl minutes after I saw Dead Eye last week, there's no way on earth she's Dead Eye."

"Okay..." Lulu trailed off, "I really hope you're right, because she's really sweet, and I like that she makes you happy." She trailed, "But I'm not gonna hesitate to arrest her if I find out it's her."

Damn Lulu and her phenomenal detective skills.

"Hey, Cheryl, you can come up now!" Called Toni from the other side of the door, and I moved around frantically, searching for a tool and coming up with a wrench.

"I grabbed it and bound up the stairs to open the door, which only opened after scanning the fingerprints of Josie, Betty and I only. It was a good thing Toni didn't open it, because she very well would have been suspicious of me.

"Josie put the wrench in the wrong tool box." I chuckled, holding the wrench up for good measure. "I've been looking all over the place for it, for the last month, and it was in the box of screwdrivers." I chuckled.

"Well, I'll let you get to it then." She eyed my neck, causing me to realize I had a hickey on my neck from the night before. She smirked, and walked toward the door,winking over her shoulder at me before leaving.

"Well, she definitely knows we fucked." Toni stated, looking at me, fighting a laugh, breaking when I lifted my shirt up, showing my stomach, and rubbing it, mocking her from earlier.

"Mmm!" I moaned in mocking to her, "Apple pie!"

She squealed in laughter, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing my face playfully.

...

"It smells like sex in here!" Screamed Josie as she walked into the house.

Damn. I forgot that I forgot to turn the speaker off from the kitchen to the garage.

I sighed, brushing off her words and continuing my push-up routine on the mat on the ground of the basement. I exhaled as I pushed up for the seventy-eighth time, listening to Josie and Betty's stomping drown out the music playing from the speakers in the room I was in.

"Damn, Miz Fine, Miz Sweaty, how long you been down here?" She asked, moving to put something on my back. It was cold, and it felt nice against the hot sweat on the skin of my tense back muscles.

"Since Toni left at eleven." I grunted, looking down to my watch to see that it read 3:00.

"Damn, so you're almost done training then, right?" Betty asked, sitting down in a chair and opening a box of take-out.

"Eighty-one," I grunted, pushing down, then up, "Eighty two," I continued, and Josie hummed, putting her thumb between her lips.

"Baby, how many push ups can you do?" She asked, looking to her girlfriend, who gave her a bewildered look.

"Like six." She said around her noodles, and Josie hummed.

"Too bad." She said passively, walking away with the sway of her hips, out of my line of sight.

"W-what does that mean?" She asked after swallowing her bite, and I stood up with a grunt, wiping my hands together to dust them off while something fell to the ground.

A gallon of cold water.

"Just that seeing Cheryl do a hundred push ups every day for the last month has made me wonder what it would be like for those kinds of muscles to..." I rose a brow at a suggestive Josie. "What? I'm only human." She mumbled, and I rolled my eyes.

"Alright..." Sighed Betty, moving her boots from the desk and putting the takeout container in their place. "Where should I start?" She asked.

"Are you sure?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I've been feeling a little sluggish, maybe this is what I need." She assured, and I shrugged.

Sounds good enough for me.

...

"Oh," Exhaled Betty, her hands resting on her knees as she wheezed, her grey shirt covered in sweat. "I didn't know cardio was a part of all this." She gasped, causing me to laugh, turning around to keep running backwards.

"You have to kick your feet up." I laughed, and she exhaled deeply.

"How are you not even out of breath?" She asked, and I shrugged.

"I used to go on jogs with Jason every morning in high school." I admitted, "And when I was away, I went an extra mile every week. By the time I was ready to go home, I was running ten miles every morning."

It was the truth.

Everything I told Betty was the truth. What could I gain from lying to her? What could I lose from telling the truth?

Absolutely nothing, because she was loyal, and I trust her more than any other person on earth. And Josie, but that was only because I knew she loved Betty too much to betray her, no matter how much she jokes about leaving Betty, or defiling me in the best way possible.

Her words, only less crass.

"Come on, Betty," I laughed, "It's only been a mile. We've got one more!" I chuckled, before turning around, only to bump into a brick wall.

"Oh, I'm sorry- Miz Blossom! Hi!" Exhaled a familiar voice as a strong arm helped me up, and I immediately adopted a faux smile.

"Hi, and please," I chuckled, "Call me Cheryl. What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around the neighborhood, which happened to be closer to the rich side of town, about a mile away from where I used to live.

"Well, I usually run down here about this time." He exhaled, the sweat on his old high school t-shirt plunging down to his abdomen.

Disgusting.

He was attractive when he was in the suit, but sweaty was not a look for him.

Or maybe I'm just a lesbian.

Or it could just be my bias against him, considering the fact that he murdered my brother and fiance.

"Oh, interesting." I laughed, drawing back to the lie I told him about walking the neighborhood everyday to talk to everyone around the neighborhood. "Well, this is Bethany, someone I met on my walks," I grinned, gesturing to Betty with the fake name, "she's trying to get back into shape after pregnancy." I lied, ignoring the subtle hole Betty burned into the back of my head with her eyes and he hummed.

"Well, you're obviously off to a great start." He smiled, "Keep up the good work, Bethany." He nodded. "I'll see you in the meeting next month." He said, moving to jog away, waving at me over his shoulder.

"I'll see you, Mister Lodge!" I assured, and he yelled over his shoulder.

"It's Hiram to you!" He chuckled, and I laughed.

"Okay, bye!" I assured, turning away and immediately wiping the ridiculous smile on my face.

"Seriously, Cheryl?" Betty asked, "Did you really have to make me a mom?" She asked, "Am I really that bad?" She mumbled, rubbing her own flat stomach, and I laughed, taking her hand and pulling her to keep going.

...

"How the hell did that happen?" Asked Betty frantically through my earpiece.

"How should I know?" I grunted as I grappled across a major street atop a building, then climbed up the side of one directly beside it, that only went up an extra five feet.

"Just get down, Dead Eye." Josie called, and rolled my eyes as I tried my hardest to dodge the helicopter's spotlight that attempted to shine down on me.

"That's terrible advice!" I complained, "I can't outrun, or hide from a helicopter!" I complained.

"Uh, okay, okay, there's an apartment building across the street. Land on the third Fire escape from the left on the second floor to the top." Betty demanded, and I shot off my arrow, then began to slide down it, to the window. I slid in the window, just dodging the light.

"Leave the apartment and go down to the lobby. Slip out there and go to your bike." Betty advised.

"But I didn't get Doctor Curdle!" I growled.

"We have to accept that we won't get all of them on the first try." Betty tried, but it wasn't good enough.

He was cutting up young, healthy people and harvesting their organs to sell on the black market. How could I let that happen again?

I ran through the empty apartment, downstairs, and instead of going left, I went right, and sprinted toward the southside morgue, which was about three blocks away.

"Cheryl, where the hell are you going?" Betty scolded, and I exhaled.

"I can't let him do this to anyone else." I gasped through my expanding lungs as I zipped through the first block and made my way through the second. I heard the blare of sirens, and ducked behind a trash can, waiting for it to fade out.

I had to calm the hammering of my heart against my chest momentarily before continuing my sprint back down to my target.

"She is so STUBBORN!" Yelled Betty through my earpiece, and I sighed.

"Just be careful, okay, baby?" Josie asked, and I cleared my throat before stopping in my tracks to draw my bow, brace my grappling arrow, and shoot it into the open window on the second floor up. I climbed up, hoisting myself into the window and drawing in the rope of the arrow. I looked around, and stopped in my tracks when I met eyes with a little girl, whose brown eyes were wide and alarmed. She must've been eight, and she looked terrified.

"Hey, hey," I stepped forward, and she flinched, moving to the button near her bed. I clicked the button on my sound inhibitor, "hey," my voice was soft now, and I pulled my hood down so she could see my bright red hair, neatly pulled back into a braid behind me. "Please, don't push that." I pleaded, and her eyes softened.

"Cheryl? What happened?"

"I'm just a normal girl like you." I smiled, but she could only see the smile in my eyes. I placed my bow in my pack and took off one of my glove, reaching a hand out to the little girl.

The room was small, and she didn't have any hair. She didn't look like she was doing well at all, what should've been tan skin looked deathly pale. The wallpaper was peeling, her hospital gown was tattered, and it seemed to be all due to the lack of funds in this hospital.

"You're sick, yeah?" I asked, and she nodded, grabbing a little pink bunny from the bed next to her and clutching it against her chest. "I know what it's like to be in the hospital for a long time." I exhaled, and I watched her eyes flit from my ungloved hand to my eyes again. "I'm not mean, I promise." I assured, and she crawled down on the edge of her bed, sitting on her knees to press her hand in mine.

Her fingers barely stretched over my palm, and there were ice cold. She only had one blanket, and it was falling apart. I twined my fingers in hers, and felt my heart clench against my chest.

"Where's your mommy?" I asked, and she moved her hand down to toy with the bunny ears.

"She died." She shrugged, "My daddy comes to see me before work, but he spends a lot of time working 'cuz he has to pay all my bills." She admitted.

God, this wasn't fair.

"That's a lot to put on someone your age." I chuckled sadly. "How old are you?" I inquired.

"Ten." God, she was so malnourished I couldn't even tell.

"What's your name?"

"Clara Clayton." She answered without a beat.

"Can I come visit you when I don't look like this?" I asked, and she nodded. "Okay," I hummed, "but I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone it's me, okay?" I asked, and she nodded, putting out her pinky to link with mine. She kissed the back of my hand.

"It's something my daddy does," She explained, "it means that I can't break your promise, no matter what." She smiled softly. I smiled under my cloth, lifting it and kissing the back of her hand softly. "I don't have a lot of friends." She admitted, so having you means I have two friends." She smiled, showing me her partially toothless smile.

"I'll see you soon then, Clara." I smiled, lifting my hood, pulling my cloth over my face, and turning my frequency inducer back on. She watched as I slid out the door.

I quickly ducked under things, and sprinted to the stairwell and began running down the stairs.

"That was so fuckin' sweet, Cheryl!" Squealed Josie, causing me to roll my eyes.

I opened the bottom door, and made my way through the cold morgue, listening for any sound, when I heard the shuffling of feet in the main lab.

"Curtis Curdle." I growled lowly at the old man who leaned over a table, scalpel in hand. He turned around slowly, and when he saw me, he dropped the tool, putting his hands up in surrender.

"It's about time." He smiled darkly, and I had a nasty taste in my mouth. I took a zip tie from my pocket and tied his hands together before taking him and walking out of the back entrance of the morgue, which met in an old alley.

This place was disgusting, honestly.

It could wait a day, I needed to get this done.

"Now," my low, unreal voice rasped, "I suggest you admit to your crimes, if you don't want to end up like all my other victims." I demanded, and the man hummed.

"Victims is an interesting choice of word." He admitted, stumbling slightly as we walked through discreet roads so I could get him to my bike six blocks away. "It suggests you either know what you're doing is wrong, and feel bad for it, or that you know, and you find a sadistic joy in it." He dissected, and I sighed.

"No more talking."

...

I rode him to the police station and waited in silence for a police officer to leave his front door open when he went to talk to someone.

It's a common occurrence, considering it isn't often that people go around looking for unlocked cop cars in front of police stations.

I snuck to the one I watched become vacated, opened the back, and he complied when I pushed him inside. I closed the door, opened the front, and laid on the horn before rushing down the alley and mounting my bike to drive away.

...

"Hey, Josie, can you find a list of single fathers on the southside with a ten year old daughter with cancer named Clara Clayton?" I asked as I walked down the stairs of my basement, and Josie grinned, standing from her chair and handing me a piece of paper.

"I did it last night." She grinned, "That's a list of Chuck Clayton's full name, his address, place of work, and related death certificates. Turns out his wife, Valerie, died when she was giving birth to their son, who died shortly after." She said solemnly. "He's been working during the day as a Gym teacher at South Side High, and nights as a waiter at Pop's Diner, just so he could pay for his daughter's hospital bills, but it's not even close to enough." She sighed. "You can see how hard he works, and it's almost heartbreaking, seeing him not get his way, ever." She pouted, and I sighed.

"I'm gonna see what I can do." I assured, moving to walk up the stairs to the door.

"You're gonna go out as Dead Eye at four in the afternoon?"

"Nope!"


	8. Seven

I drove to the South Side Memorial Hospital, walked in to the receptionist, and pulled out a check for eight million dollars.

How much is eight million dollars when you own a company that makes two billion a year?

And five years of using almost none of that?

I have a lot saved up, so eight million doesn't even suffice.

"I'd like to make a donation to up the funds of this hospital." I said to the receptionist, and the woman with the short, curly red hair just stared at me in awe for a moment.

"Eight million dollars, ma'am?" She asked, and I chuckled.

"I read into this hospital this morning when I heard the news about Dead Eye and his newest victim." I justified, "I found out that this hospital gets less than a million dollars in funds each year?" I shook my head in discontent. "There's no way you guys can run a hospital, saving lives with this lack of resources, so please, consider this the first of many donations I'll be making to this hospital." I assured, sliding the check over at her, and she sputtered for a moment.

"I-I... I'll have to connect you with our financial executives." She explained, reaching a hand to the phone.

"Wait..." I hesitated. "I own a banking company," I divulged, "financial executives will take half of the money, just for themselves. If you can't take this money without giving so much up, how about I take it and buy what you need?" I suggested, "Tell me your brands, send me a list, and I'll get it all." I smiled, "I'll also pay a construction crew to come in and fix the broken parts of the building."

"I-it's not that I don't appreciate it, or that any of us wouldn't, but I have to ask, why are you taking notice in us?" She asked, and I smiled.

"I met a man whose daughter is here, in the cancer ward, and I saw the conditions of her room, and it wasn't fair that because she doesn't have my kind of money, she doesn't get top treatment." I admitted, and she sighed.

"Give me your email, and I'll send you a list of things." She requested, putting a pen and a sticky note on the counter for me to write it down. "Do you want to visit her?" She asked, looking up from the paper at me, and I hummed, letting out a bright smile.

"I'd love that."

...

The receptionist, Mary, soon took my up to the cancer ward, and we walked through the old, yellowed hallway, until we met with a familiar room. She stopped a few feet away and pointed me inside before leaving back to her post.

I walked in, and was met with the sight of a man sitting in the bed with his daughter, holding Clara against him closely.

"I don't want you to go to work again." She whispered, and he sighed.

"I know, baby," he sighed, kissing her head softly. "But I gotta pay for your hospital bills so they don't make you leave." He assured, and I stepped in, clearing my throat softly, causing him to look up at me in confusion.

"Hi," I smiled softly, and he turned to stand up in front of his daughter's bed. "I'm Cheryl Blossom." I smiled, yet again, reaching a hand out to the tall, handsome man.

"I know who you are." He nodded, shaking my hand, his tone and facial expression neutral as he seemed to try and figure out who I was. "What are you doing here?" He inquired, crossing his arms over his chest to guard his child.

"I actually came to visit Clara." I admitted, turning my body to look around him and wave at the little girl, whose eyes lit up when she realized who I was. She got up with a cheer and ran around her dad to hug me. I couldn't help but smile, pulling her into me and standing up so she could rest her head in my shoulder. "I was visiting yesterday, just to see if I wanted to invest in this hospital, and I was walking by this room when I saw the most beautiful little girl sitting on the bed, playing with her bunny. Clara alone is what compelled me to donate money to improve this place's resources." I smiled, and she pulled away to look at me.

"I told you I'd come back, didn't I?" I asked, poking the tip over her nose softly.

"You're so pretty for real." She whispered, and I grinned before putting her down.

"Do you think I can talk to your dad out in the hallway for a minute?" I asked, and she nodded. He looked wary as he followed me out of the room, and I closed the door so she wouldn't hear.

"What's up?" He asked, and I smiled.

"You really have an amazing daughter." I smiled, looking through the window of the door before looking back to him, but he was doing the same.

"She's all the family I have left." He sighed, and I did the same.

"That's why I want to pay your daughter's hospital bills." I divulged, and his eyes snapped to me, before widening, his strong jaw dropping in shock.

"W-why?" He asked, and I chuckled.

"I know what it's like to lose my whole family." I recalled. "I'm sure you've heard it." I rolled my eyes, "I want you to have every fighting chance you can get to have your daughter for as long as possible." I smiled sadly, and he exhaled, likely overwhelmed at the sudden information. "I-I know you don't have a reason to trust me, and I don't blame you. A lot of corporate heads are sharks, and are terrible people, but I promise, I'm not doing this for my own gain, I just want to see a family stay together. I don't know what I'd do if I had the means to help and did nothing." I admitted.

"Why didn't you just put in an anonymous payment?" He asked, "If you're not looking for good publicity, or payment."

"I wanted to ask your permission first." I admitted, "I don't want you to feel undermined, or helpless. But I know you'll need help, at the very least. I don't care the bill, I'll do what I need. I even took the liberty of finding some of the best doctors in the country that I'm willing to employ for the treatment of your daughter." I assured. "Anything you need, honestly. And none of this will hit headlines at all. I just want to see Clara succeed."

I saw a small smile reach his lips, then he looked to his daughter through the glass, then to me. He held out a hand for me to shake.

"Thank you, Miz Blossom, for doing this for my daughter." He exhaled, and I grinned.

"Anything you need, Chuck."

...

"Babe, you'll never believe this!" I heard from the street as Toni stomped up the driveway with an excited grin on her face. "My niece has cancer," she began, and I already began to sense where this was going. "Her dad called me and told me that someone is paying for her to get treatment from some really good doctors!" She exclaimed, and I rolled out from under my car from atop a dolly.

"That's amazing babe!" I chuckled, "I didn't know you had any other siblings." I admitted, and she shrugged.

"Well, he's not my brother, we grew up together on the southside. He was the one who introduced me to the serpents, and that's what kinda kept my dad, my brother and I safe." She admitted, sitting on a shop chair nearby.

"That's so cool, I'm really excited for your cousin's daughter." I tried to play it off, but internally, my heart was running at a mile a minute.

I mean, what are the odds that I would walk into the room of my girlfriend's(?) niece that night? What are the odds that I would feel compelled to help the one little girl on the south side who's close to the girl I so deeply care for?

"Do you have something to tell me?" She asked, and I looked up over my shoulder at her. She was crossing her arms over her chest with a knowing smile.

Shit.

She obviously didn't know about me being Dead Eye, because she wasn't yelling, throwing things, or arresting me.

But why wouldn't he tell his closest friend who it was that donated the money? Especially if he knew she was working on my case, which he likely did.

There's no reason for him not to know.

"How did you find out about my niece?" She asked, and I shrugged.

I was just gonna go with the lie I told Chuck, because unlike his, I wasn't anticipating her questions.

"I didn't." I shrugged, "I was thinking about what we were talking about a few weeks ago, about how the system constantly fails people on the southside." That was true. The entire conversation was running through my mind when I was doing what I did, writing the check, other things. "I realized I have the means to do something about it, so I started with the hospital. I was walking around, looking at things that needed to be repaired, and I met this adorable little girl, with a beautiful smile, and an amazing spirit. It was all I needed to see before I decided to do some research. When I found out about all of Chuck's losses, I felt terrible. Nobody deserves to lose their family like that." I sighed, looking down at the ground. "I didn't know you knew each other, and I didn't know that he would tell anyone about my offer."

"First off," She smiled, taking my chin up to look her in the eye. "Always assume I know someone from the south side. And second of all," She leaned down and kissed my lips deeply, "you are the most beautiful, precious person on this planet." She assured, "Third of all, selfless Cheryl," She dragged her finger along my jaw, "makes me super horny."

Subtle Toni seems not to exist.

"Mm, yeah?" I grinned, and she nodded, her breath on my lip.

"But the washer on your drive train fell off." She grinned, and I pulled away in confusion before looking under the car and noticing the washer, laying on the ground below where it's supposed to be.

"Ugh!"

...

I was so happy to be able to fund this little girl's treatment, honestly. It was strange, seeing that little girl look up at me. I could've just kept walking, and she would've called the nurse. The nurse would've gotten there by the time I made it to the morgue, and I could've killed Curdle and been long gone before anyone noticed, but instead, I was compelled and charmed by this little girl, when she had hardly said anything.

Losing someone you love is never going to be easy, I know, of all people. However, it's a lot harder when you don't have someone else to go through it with.

I loved having Toni to be there for me when my Heather and Jason died, but I always felt like I couldn't be upset around her, because she's never seen me that kind of upset.

I couldn't imagine what it would be like, losing my wife and my child, then having to go to the same hospital they died in every day, to see my other child, who's fighting death.

I couldn't just sit there and watch this amazing man lose the only thing, likely, that's keeping him from losing his sanity.

That little girl was far more deserving of living a full life than I was, and all the people I've taken on in the last month and a half.

...

"Why can't I just hit the punching bag?" Exhaled Betty from where she was, in the middle of her ninth burpee, and I laughed.

"That's not going to build the back and arm muscles you'll need to effectively hit the bag." I explained, and practically heard her eyes roll in her sockets.

"You're doing amazing, sweetie!" Called Josie from the garage, where she sat in my car, fiddling with the speakers, working on wiring them to work in time with the speakers in the house.

"But not well enough." I smirked, and Betty looked up at me with a glare before pushing up and standing up from the grass.

"She really is doing a lot better though," Josie called, "last night when she got behind me an-"

"Lulu's driving up." I interrupted, causing Josie to shut up and shuffle around in my car before getting out and closing the door, casually walking out to bug us. I cleared my throat and looked at Betty. "Push ups." I demanded, and Betty groaned before dropping down and starting on them.

"One, two, three, four, hey, Lulu!" I smiled, waving at the tall woman as she walked up the lawn.

"Hey, ladies," her blue eyes shifted to Betty and Josie, who was lying in front of her, making funny faces at her girlfriend while she did her push ups. "I'm sorry to come at you so suddenly, I was just wondering if Josie was with you. I called her, and text her, but she hasn't answered her phone."

"She's not here, but she left about an hour ago. She said she was gonna go visit Clara and Chuck at the hospital." I informed, and she hummed.

"Oh, okay. I just wanted to know where she was, I was a little worried when she didn't read my message about dinner tomorrow night." She chuckled, "She loves food almost as much as the Claytons." She jested, and I hummed.

"Well, now you know." I hummed, looking down at Betty, who was lying flat on the grass, her body completely limp, arms splayed out at her sides like a starfish, Josie was resting her foot on the woman's back, just to be an asshole.

"She can't even hold a paint can on her back, Jo, let alone you." I chuckled, and Lulu looked to me.

"Most women would think a paint can is a lot." She hummed, and I detected her slight suspicion again, so I just played it off.

"I went out and ran miles, did pull up from street lights and tree branches, and did push ups in order to get rid of the pain and stress I went through while grieving Jj and Heather." I admitted, and she hummed.

"How much weight can you carry while pushing?" She asked, and I shrugged.

"Like ninety five pounds." I estimated, and she nodded.

"I was in the Army." She divulged, "I was discharged three and half years ago, and I've been in law enforcement since."

"Wow." I exhaled, impressed, and Josie looked up, her eyes raking over Lulu's tall, strong body.

"When you're a woman in the military, you have to prove yourself in the same toxic masculine ways they do, if you want them to respect you."

"Push up contests." Betty said from the ground, and Lulu nodded.

"Now, as a part of my morning workout, my wife sits on my back and drinks her tea while I do push ups with her on my back." She grinned, her eyes suddenly glowing with a brightness I haven't seen before.

"Prove it." Josie grinned, and Lulu scoffed, shedding her jacket, leaving her in a gray muscle shirt and her black jeans.

She had tattoos on her arms, all over them. And her arm muscles were bigger than most of the men I'd seen before.

She braced herself on the grass.

"What's your name?" She asked Betty, who sat up with a grunt.

"Betty. This is my girlfriend, Josie." She sighed, and Josie simply waited.

"Sit on my back." She demanded, and the blonde rose a brow.

"Me?" She asked, "Why me?"

"You seem like you weigh the most out of the three of you." She shrugged, and Betty rolled her eyes before sitting on the tall woman's back.

She began doing the sit ups, and it was as though there was nothing on her back.

"Jesus christ." I muttered.

"What a woman," exhaled Josie, and I agreed.

Was this Wonder Woman? Good Lord.

"Her back muscles are like rocks!" Betty said in awe, causing Lulu to laugh before stopping to allow Betty to get off.

"Too bad you're already married." Jested Josie, looking up the length of Lulu's body as she put her leather jacket back on. "I could've fucked your shit up."


	9. Eight

"Cheryl, quick, behind you!" I turned around in the alley I was standing in, and immediately dodged a bat, flying at my face with ease. I took the bat from the guard's hand and broke it over my knee before throwing both pieces over my shoulder, and his brown eyes widened.

He grunted and threw a punch at me, causing me to dodge, and catch his hand. I twisted it behind him and kicked him in the back of his knee, causing him to buckle to the ground. My eyes snapped up to the main street ahead of me when I heard the sirens of a police car, and kicked the man in the head once before running inside the strip club that made up of one half of the alley.

I heard heavy padding, and the sound of puddles splashing, and turned on my way in to see a certain pink haired detective running down the alley to me.

"That was what I meant by 'Quick, behind you!'" Betty groan

It was dark, aside from the pulsing neon lights, and I looked past the half naked women to find the man of my sights, Will Norton, a corrupt corrections facilitator for the Leopold Prison on the southside.

He ran an underground fighting ring of Serpents against their gang rivals, the Ghoulies. He was the worst, because if he had his money on someone, he'd bribe one of the Ghoulies into being his bitch, and injuring the opposite player to the point that they were unable to win.

I really took spending all this time with Clara to heart. She liked to walk around the hospital, holding my hand, and introduce me to all the patients and nurses she had befriended in the year she had been spending in the hospital. Meeting all these kids on the southside made me feel sympathetic for everyone on it.

Now, I felt it was my duty to protect them when nobody else was.

"Over there!" I heard a man's voice behind me, and turned around, just in time to dodge a punch. I took the goon's wrist and twisted it over my shoulder while I spun, using his body to brace my feet upon as I ran up him, landing on the ground just in time to here the harsh snap of his forearm, followed by his squeal of pain. I looked passed the painstaken pan to see Toni running toward me, so I ran toward the back room, through a door, coming across a wall of curtains. I ran through the curtain, and came across a stripper giving a man a lap dance, someone I didn't recognize, so I just ran to the other side, coming across an empty room. I ran through it to another one, a woman straddling someone with her breasts in his face, and I sighed, pulling the woman back by the shoulder and facing the man who shivered in his seat, knowing his fate.

"Leave us, please." I requested of the tall brunette, who did as I was asked, slipping behind the curtain without panic at all.

She's probably used to straight men being this way.

She's also probably a lesbian.

"No, no, please, no!" He whimpered, and I rolled my eyes before slamming my boot into his face to knock him unconscious, cuffing his hands with a new pair of tech Josie and Betty developed; shock transmitter ties.

It's basically a zip tie with a little tiny transmitter that conducts electricity to shock the cuffed person when they tug too hard on it.

If he woke up before an officer moved from the main room into the tents, he wouldn't be able to move because the ties would knock him unconscious with the power of the zap.

I left the curtain area and shot an arrow at the wall, listening to it beep, a red light flashing as it warned people. I turned of the sound inhibitor and screamed, "Dead Eye, everybody run!" Before turning it back on, throwing Norton's flash drive at his unconscious body. I waited to see Toni run into the hallway before running out just in time for the arrow to erupt, filling the room with smoke.

She'll be the arresting officer to this awful man, so at least we have that.

...

"Good morning, Mister Lodge, come on in." I smiled fakely, crossing my hands over my knee as he walked in. This time, he sat in the shorter chair.

Good boy, Hiram.

Submit to me, mut.

"It's really chilly out right now." Hiram shuddered, removing his scarf, but keeping his jacket on.

"I know, the rain has been absolutely hellacious." I sighed, feigning interest in whatever it is he wanted to talk about.

"Alright." He sighed, sitting back and crossing his ankle over his knee in that strange, straight man way they sit. "I read your proposal about donating money to the South Side Hospital, and I thought of a better idea." He smiled, and I rose a brow. "I thought about how it would be more expensive to fix the damages of the hospital than what it's worth. Why don't we buy South Side Memorial and transfer all the patients to Lodge Medical Center? We can convert it into a homeless shelter, or a prison." He suggested, and I rose a brow.

"Well, Mister Lodge, as much as I think they'll appreciate the nicer hospital at their normal price, it's not practical for their families, and the people on the south side who need to get to a hospital quickly. Instead, they'll have to wait through bridge traffic, and that's not convenient." I justified, and he leaned forward, resting his hands on his now separated knees, his hands folded together. 

"Let's look at it like this, sweetheart;" Hiram began, "instead of losing fifty million dollars to a hospital that won't be able to make funds that will keep maintenance, we can put them in a better hospital, where I'll be making money, and you'll buy the hospital, turn it into something that'll simultaneously help people and make money. That way, we'll make a profit off of the work we're putting into the city." He smirked, leaning back to comfort himself again, and I had to fight every urge to roll my eyes.

"I don't think you understand," I sighed, "I don't need you to tell me how I can make money off of the people of Riverdale." I assured, sitting up to assert my dominance as I looked down at him. "We have signed a partnership because I respect your generosity to the city, not because I like the fact that you make money on the general public's ailments." I clarified. "And second of all," my jaw clenched as I rose from my seat to make him see what it's like to be looked down upon. "I am not your sweetheart, and I am one hundred percent sure that if a man were sitting behind this desk right now, you would not be trying to tell me how to run my company, or what to do differently with my plan."

"That's because a man would never feel compelled to do the things you're trying to do." He argued, crossing his arms over his chest, and I rose a brow.

In the animal kingdom, spreading one's feathers, or somehow making themselves bigger will help an animal fend off or intimidate predators. It works in the corporate world too.

I spread my arms out on my desk and hunched forward to look the man dead in the eye, ignoring the pounding of my heart and the heaving of my chest as flashbacks invaded my mind of the first time I looked him in the eyes like this.

"I guess it's a good thing I've never really like men, huh?" I smirked, and it seemed to stun him, because he blinked several times, trying to roll his shoulders from the tension I was causing.

I was finally getting to him.

Excellent.

"Now, I want you to understand, that I am interested in economic growth for the less fortunate, Mister Lodge. I may have a kind, generous heart, but I don't let people cross me after the first time, and I am ruthless, underneath these pleasant curves and kind eyes." I smiled at him coldly, tilting my head to the side for emphasis. "Now, I don't just want for the hospital to stay on the hospital, but I want them to have fifty one million dollars." I winked before whispering, "just because you didn't want to pay the fifty mil."

His jaw was clenched, and I watched his Adam's apple bulge up, meaning I've riled him up.

"I have a meeting in ten minutes," I hummed with a sly smile upon looking at my watch, "I'll see you at the pitch meeting next week. Toodles, sweetheart." I winked, waving my fingers at him tauntingly, and he silently grabbed his things, looking me in the eye without straying, the entire way out the door of my office.

...

"I cannot believe you said that to Hiram Lodge of all people!" Gasped Toni from where we sat on the roof of my car, munching on burgers from Pop's as the sun fell down over the river below the bridge that connected the North and South sides.

We just got back from a visit with Clara and Chuck, and decided on an Impromptu date by the water at sunset.

"Well, I can't stand feeling like I'm beneath someone." I shrugged, and she rose a brow with a smirk.

"Really now? Because you seemed to be really happy to be beneath me last week." She winked, and I simply rolled my eyes.

"Shut up." I giggled, shoving her slightly as she finished her last fry, tossing the bag over my windshield, into the seat of the car.

"Y'know something?" Toni chimed, and I hummed in question. She reached across the red blanket to take my hand in hers. "You make me so happy." She admitted, "And we never talked about what we are, but, uh... I don't know, I kinda want to." She shrugged, and I hesitated, my breath growing shaky when my anxiety grew.

"I-I..." It was the second time where I didn't know what to say.

What could I say?

I want to be with you, I want to be your girlfriend, Toni, but I can't be with you because I'm a murderer vigilante and being with you can simultaneously ruin us and put you in danger, and I can't handle that.

"Oh..." Toni exhaled, taking her hand out of mine, and I felt my heart break.

"Hey, it isn't what you think, I swear." I assured, causing her to scoff when she looked up at me.

"What I think is that you're a coward, Cheryl." She admitted, her voice shaky as she sat up, bracing her feet against the bumper of my car.

Maybe it is what she thinks.

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"I'm so stupid." She chuckled, resting her elbows on her knees, cradling her head with her hands. "I'm not like this, Cheryl. And you wouldn't know, because you don't care." She scoffed, "You care about yourself, and what you get out of your relationship with me! I can't do this." She cried, stepping down and moving to walk off, but I took her hand to stop her.

"Toni, please wait!"

"No, Cheryl!" She cried, "All I did for the last five years was wait, and I'll I do now is wait, and betray everything my mind is telling me by being with you, because my heart aches for you, and my body is on fire when you're around. I keep making a fool of myself, over and over and over again!" She sobbed, ripping her arm out of my grasp and running to the bridge so she could go home. I sat there, sitting on the hood of my car after being left by the person who mattered to me most.

I groaned, sliding back onto the hood and hitting my head as I laid out on top, looking up at the stars thoughtlessly for a few minutes, until I felt a big water droplet fall on my eye, followed my plenty other little ones, pelting my body intrusively. I groaned and wrapped myself in the blanket before getting in my car, turning it on and raising the top back up.

God, I just let her go again for the same reason.

What am I doing?

"UGH!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as tears forced themselves out of my eyes, and hit my palms against the steering wheel in rage before gripping it and leaning my forehead against it so I could just sit there and cry, my chest raising and falling in time with each sob that fell from my lips.

Why couldn't I let good things happen to myself?

Was I just some twisted masochist, addicted to my own pain?


	10. Nine

"Are you sure you don't wanna take a break? You've been going for the last hour." Betty asked me from behind me as I delivered blow after blow to the duck taped punching bag.

"I'm too angry to stop." I said between breaths, my jaw clenching as I kicked the bag hard enough to make sand spill from a new puncture in the leather of the bag.

"You have that big meeting today though." Betty reminded, "Think of Clara." She tried, and I groaned in anger.

"That makes it worse!" I screamed, punching the leaking bag off its hinge and onto the ground. I fell to my knees, my body weak. "Betty, I don't want to do this anymore." I cried, my body shaking as I hunched over and laid down on the mat, curling into a ball. "I just want to be normal again." I cried, tears falling down the side of my face as I laid down against it.

"I know," She whispered, leaning on her knees to rub my shoulder affectionately, "but nothing will ever be normal. I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Why don't I just kill Hiram and stop?" I asked, and she hummed.

"You can do that." She promised, "But you have to remember what he did. You have to figure out why he did it." She reminded, and I groaned.

"I don't want this anymore, Betty. It's costing me my sanity, and it's setting me apart from being happy. I don't care why, I just care that it happened."

"Okay," Betty shrugged, "we'll do it tonight then." She assured, "then you can get on with your life."

...

"Good morning, Hiram." I greeted the man as he walked in the door of my office. He decided to sit in the shorter seat, as before, only he kept his scarf and jacket on. He had his hands clamped together between his knees, and he smirked at me.

"Good morning, Dead Eye." He smirked, and my brow shot into my hairline, my heart pounding at the pace of a racehorse.

"Excuse me?" I asked, and he smirked at me.

"It makes sense, Cheryl." He chuckled, "You spent your five years away learning how to kill, and shoot arrows, because arrows are meant to make a point. You dedicated your life to killing these corrupt corporate sharks because you realized that your parents are just as corrupt as everyone else, and you were willing to do anything to fix this city by cleansing it of all people just like your folks."

"Okay," I laughed, "I put you in your place as my partner rather than your inferior due to the fact that I'm a woman, so you jump to the conclusion that, no only am I a masked murderer, but also that my parents were bad people?" I scoffed, "They're dead, Hiram." I reminded, "They can't even defend themselves, and you're trying to put the blame on them?" I scoffed again with the shake of my head. "Why don't you just admit that your a misogynist who makes a profit on little girls with cancer?" I inquired, and his smug look wiped away immediately. "I'm a strong, powerful woman who doesn't let men control her life, Hiram, not the devil." I crossed my hands over my lap. "This partnership is over. There's the door." I demanded, and he sputtered for a moment before walking out silently.

He was obviously both a lot smarter and dumber than I thought he was.

...

"Cheryl, I found out why Hiram hasn't lost any money." Josie said through the speakers from the garage as I made myself something to eat.

"Speak." I demanded.

"Okay, so I found out that he's been donating to charities that he owns. I looked into it more, and he's not actually funding anything. He paid actors to speak in front of crowds so that it looked like he had homeless clients he was funding, and young queer people, but it's nothing. The buildings are being used as a storage facility for something big. Something he's been working on for the past ten years, according to these surveillance and bank records." She divulged, and I hummed.

"That's probably why he was so determined to find that file." I shrugged, topping a piece of persimmon in my mouth.

"He's gonna be there tonight." Josie offered, "looks like your last mission is up."

"I guess so."

...

"He's inside, take out the guard on the side door first. There's nobody else in the warehouse besides Hiram and his guard." Betty directed, and I jumped from the roof across from the building of my sights, rolling over my shoulder to land without injuring myself. I ran around the building, stopping around the corner where the entrance was so I could draw my bow back to shoot an anesthesia dart at the man guarding the door, causing him to fall unconscious.

I stepped over his body and opened the door before slipping past it and walked down a hallway. I turned around and shot an arrow at the area by the door. These arrows had small cameras on the arrow's nock.

"Nock cam online." Josie assured, and I ran down a hallway, walking to the main hall of the warehouse and looking through a window of the main floor.

It was a huge machine, made for what I had assumed to be packing pills, if I can recall from my limited knowledge, due to late night episodes of "How It's Made" with Toni.

I slid in and looked around, boxes everywhere, filled to the brim with smaller boxes of pills labeled differently.

I opened two differently labeled boxes, pulled out a bottle of each. I opened the first one and dumped some pills out into my hand, examining the small, pink, round pills. I put them back, then did the same, noting that they looked exactly the same as the others.

"Josie, I have thin, round, pink pills about the size of a pencil eraser. Tell me what they are." I whispered, and I heard silence before her voice sounded through the coms.

"Placebo pills."

Mother fucker.

"Hiram Lodge!" I screamed, throwing the fake pills on the ground and running around the machine, which was powered off. I drew back an arrow and waited for him to appear. I heard a slight change in the hair behind me, and turned around swiftly, meeting the man's eyes from just five feet away.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you sometime soon." He smirked, adjusting his tight, then the lapels on his coat.

"So you accept your fate then." I smirked under my cloth, and he chuckled.

"Oh, no. I assure you, this isn't gonna go the way you think." He chuckled, reaching behind him and holding a gun up at me.

Shit.

"Betty, I think he just pulled a gun on her." Whispered Josie to Betty, and that was followed by shuffling.

"Cheryl, I'm gonna go get the bike and come get you."

"No. I got this." I mumbled, and he rose a brow, moving closer to me. I didn't move at all, I kept my eye on my target.

"Oh? You don't work alone then." He chuckled, "I guess I'll have to find them when I'm done making an example out of you." he taunted, and I shook my head.

"Over my dead body."

"You're right." He chuckled, pulling the trigger, and hitting me in the chest. I fell back with a heavy grunt, holding my chest for a moment before standing back up. I grabbed another smoke arrow and shot it at him, missing, but conjuring up enough smoke for me to get out.

"Come on, Dead Eye," I heard the coy voice of Hiram's laugh, and I ducked behind another box in the hallway. "Let's settle this like men. Fist to fist, no weapons."

"You're not past making billions of dollars off of scamming innocent people, how do I know I can trust you're past foul play?" I asked from behind the box, and he came into view.

"You can't, but if you want me in jail, you're just gonna have to." He assured, loosening his tie and taking his jacket off, tossing it and his tie to the side and walking close. "I'll allow your silly costume, but I heard the clank. No bullet proof vest." He chuckled, walking closer.

"Cheryl, don't, Betty will be there soon." Josie tried, and my jaw clenched, memories of the things he's done to me flashing through my mind, fresh, as though it happened just yesterday.

I reached under my cloak and removed the vest, leaving me in just a sweater beneath my cloak. I tossed it out from behind the box and set down my weapons carefully. I stood up and stood, my body as big as possible as I awaited his approach. He grinned, tilting his head to the side to look at me.

"You're much shorter than I expected." He taunted, and turned to crack my neck, then my knuckles.

"Funny, I thought you'd be taller too." I quipped, and he simply chuckled until we met eyes, considering the fact we were about the same height. He was inches from my face, and it was silent and still for a moment before I watched his eyes flash with something, before his hand came up to hit me, something I caught just in time to dodge.

I caught his fist with my hand and twisted it back into him, causing him to his and rip his arm away from me. I surged forward and caught his jaw with my fist. He didn't react, so I hit him again, his head falling back, his feet stumbling. He moved to kick me, and I jumped over it as quickly as he was ready to throw another blow, hitting me in the nose, causing it to spill red into my cloth, down my neck. I grunted and turned to the wall beside me, taking him by the shoulder and slamming his head against it, causing blood to leak from his lip, where he must've bit down.

I chuckled, the dark sound coming out as much more demonic due to the frequency inhibitor. He threw another punch at my face, and I ducked below, spinning around to get behind him. I kicked the back of his knee, forcing him to the ground before I took his head and slammed it back against my knee. He grunted, his body having a hard time keeping from wobbling around in disorientation. I grabbed my bow and an arrow and shot it at him point blank, shooting him through the stomach. He groaned, grabbing the arrow with a wicked smile before yanking it out and throwing it at the ground, collapsing to the ground.

I grabbed my things before drawing back an explosive arrow and shooting it at the box I was previously hiding behind.

I had two minutes to get out.

"Cheryl, Toni just walked in!" Josie yelled, and my eyes widened as I ran down the hall, abandoning my vest, searching frantically for Toni so I could get her to leave.

I heard something by a hall nearest the door, but before I could turn my head to look over, I heard gunshots hitting the roof of the warehouse.

"DEAD EYE!" I heard of the very person I was seeking out, and I turned around, looking at the man, withered and bloody, his previously stark white dress shirt soaked in the blood from the arrow, and his face, legs not allowing him to stand still, due to the fact he likely was getting dizzy. He dropped the gun on the ground, and I rose another arrow, and drew back my brow, until I heard another gunshot, and felt my body jerk forward.

"Cheryl, get out of there, Betty's here!" I heard, but I looked down, moving my cloak out of the way to see blood leaking from a hole in my stomach. My glove was being coated in the crimson blood, and I gasped before turning around to see Toni, staring at me with her gun raised, the barrel still smoking as she glared at me with a tight jaw. I stumbled forward toward Toni, lowering my weapon so it dangled under my arms.

"We have to get out of here, there's a bomb in the hall right there. It's gonna go off in thirty seconds." I warned, and her eyes widened before she moved to run past me, to Hiram, but I grabbed her hand, running away with her hand in mine, even though she was grunting and yelling, pulling her hand out of mine as we ran out the door.

"I need to-" We were cut off by the sound of an explosion, followed by shattering windows. Her shoulders fell forward, and she turned to me, trying to wrestle the bow from my hand, but it didn't work. I stepped back just in time to hear my bike whir up to us. Betty was wearing a helmet and leather jacket, hair tucked into the helmet so nobody would connect the dots, and I jumped on, allowing Betty to drive away with me on her back while I looked back at the woman who stood, staring off at me in complete anger.

I'm sorry, Toni.


	11. Ten

"Josie, get the cot ready, and get the tweezers!" Betty yelled through the speakers from the kitchen as she dragged me to the fridge to grab a bottle of Vodka from on top, then to the basement, dragging my weak body down the stairs. I stripped my cloak away, then my sweater so I could lie down on the cot in the corner of the basement.

"What happened?" Josie asked, and Betty sighed as she rushed around to grab some gauze and alcohol pads from a cupboard above the computers.

"Toni shot me." I hissed, unable to lie on my back or front, due to the fact that it went through my body and I had two wounds.

"I told you not to do it, Cheryl!" Scolded Josie as she leaned down to grab an extra blanket and a pillow from under the cot I was on. "If you didn't take off the vest to fight Hiram, you wouldn't be here right now." She sighed, and I grunted.

"It was worth it." I garbled before hissing when Cheryl dumped some of the vodka over my back, then my stomach.

"Well, it's a good thing she missed any important organs, because I wouldn't be able to help you if that was the case." Betty sighed as she grabbed a needle and thread.

"You shouldn't be able to help her here either." Josie complained, sitting in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, luckily for Cheryl, they have YouTube tutorials for everything other than how to perform major surgery on vital organs." She muttered as she blotted the blood with a hand towel. "Josie, can you get some vicodin from the medicine cabinet?" Betty requested of her beloved, who begrudgingly did so.

"Thanks for this, Betty." I grunted as she poked my skin with a needle and tugged the thread through it.

"Well, what are cousins for?" She smiled softly, and I sighed.

"What am I gonna do, Betty?" I asked, and she sighed in the same manner.

"You need to worry about getting better. You have to show up at work, so not to raise suspicion." She rationalized, wiping the blood from my back as she pulled the thread at the seem, causing me to hiss and groan at the tightening of my open wound.

"How did Toni even know I was gonna be there?" I grunted as Betty rolled me over and poured more vodka on my stomach to the much larger exit wound. I square, grunting and hissing, nearly screaming as she wiped it away.

"She probably assumed you'd be there because of the fact that you parked your bike in plain sight and it was so close to the warehouse that it just made sense that the notorious rich asshole killer would be inside of the building owned by a rich asshole." She assumed, and I groaned, mentally kicking myself for being careless on my last mission. She dumped a little more of the vodka on my stomach before taking a swig and handing it to me. "You're gonna need this, because we can't leave this uncovered, and Josie's taking forever." She said sympathetically, causing me to snatch it up and pour some into my mouth while she worked the needle into the skin. I groaned, causing the vodka to pour out of my mouth, all over my neck and face. I exhaled heavily, tears falling from my eyes at the pain I was feeling.

"I haven't been shot in a long time." I exhaled, and she tilted her head at me.

"Oh, really? It's great, you should do it more often." She said sarcastically, and I exhaled, dumping more vodka in my mouth and drinking it down until it was gone. I dropped the bottle on the ground and settled on stuffing the sleeve of my sweater in my mouth to stop myself from screaming, since I just remembered that I haven't turned the speaker off to the kitchen.

It was five minutes before Josie came back with the bottle of painkillers, just as Betty cut the thread.

"That was surgical thread, right?" Josie asked, and Betty scoffed.

"Of course it was, Jo." She smiled, and I laid on the cot, covered in sweat, my chest heaving as Josie handed me the pills and a bottle of water. I popped them and drank the water before lying there.

"Hiram punched me in the nose, and that's why my face is bloody." I said simply, causing Josie to roll her eyes.

"I know he deserved it, but he was already gonna die anyway, why not just kill him and get it over with?" She inquired, and I shrugged.

"I wanted to watch the shock in his eyes when he realized he'd lost." I admitted, and Josie rolled her eyes, yet again.

"You're too much sometimes."

...

"Miz Blossom, Toni's here to see you." Jellybean informed as she walked into my office, and I exited out of the article I was reading on Hiram Lodge.

"Go ahead and let her in." I smiled, and she nodded before opening the door wider, allowing the pink haired woman to walk in past her. "Hi, Toni." I smiled softly, and the stone-faced woman didn't acknowledge my kind greeting at all, instead, she remained standing as she looked on at me with a neutral expression on her face.

"I need to speak with you about the case of Hiram Lodge." She said simply, stepping closer, to address me at my desk. "The two of you were working together for the last month, is this true?" She inquired.

"Yes, but he wasn't respecting me as his equal, so I cut ties with him." I said truthfully.

"Are you aware that he went missing after the explosion of his charity building on Friday night?" She inquired, and I rose a brow, genuinely surprised that his body wasn't discovered in the fire.

"No," I sputtered, my heart pounding in my chest with anxiety. "I-I had no idea. At least he's alive though, right?" I inquired, raising a brow, and she exhaled.

"I believe so. But nobody knows where he is." She divulged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's terrible." I sighed, "Is there anything I can do?" I asked, and she looked around at me for a moment.

"Yeah, can you stand up please?" She inquired, and I shrugged before standing up, ignoring the throbbing pain in my abdomen and back.

"What's wrong?" I asked, feigning cluelessness, when really, I knew she was onto me.

"Nothing," she shook her head as she looked me up and down, "I've missed you." She mumbled, pushing me against the wall and locking her lips on mine.

It took everything in me not to yelp, or scream, or gasp.

Not only was my stomach quivering from the pain I was feeling, but I was fighting the immediate emotional pain that came with the knowledge that Toni was willing to emotionally manipulate me to figure out if I was Dead Eye.

I moaned against her, wrapping my arms around her waist to ensure she thought I was under the impression that she was genuinely interested in kissing me. She laced her fingers in my hair and rolled her body against mine to make sure I wasn't who she thought I was.

God, it hurt so much, and I couldn't even express it, because I had to pretend nothing was wrong. She pulled away, and I watched the uncertainty wash over her flushed features while she tried to regain her breath.

"I-I want to give us a try." I exhaled, watching her eyes widen.

"What?" She asked, and I smiled, shrugging.

It was true, I did, and there was nothing I wanted more. All I had to do was find and kill Hiram before everything could go back to normal.

I could finally be with Toni the way I want.

"I want to be with you, Toni." I laughed, "I want to be exclusive, and I wan-"

"Now you tell me?" Asked Toni, her eyebrows scrunching together in distaste, and my smile dropped instantly. "I've wanted to be with you for the last five and a half years, and now that it's finally the right time for you, you expect me to just open my arms and invite you in?" She stepped back and scoffed, running her fingers through her hair, just to have something to do other than fidget. "It's too late. I've given you plenty of chances, and I can't just sit here and let you do this again in a month, after I've already fallen for you that much harder, and I go to take a step further, only for you to step back. Just admit it; you're afraid of commitment!" She demanded, waiting for me to answer, to which I just sputtered.

"I-I'm confused, I thought you came in here and kissed me so we could make something happen." I played, and it took her a moment to realize what I was talking about before she blinked a few times and cleared her throat. She threw her hair over her shoulder and sighed.

"I'm sorry." She chuckled, looking down as though chastising herself for messing up her initial plan to figure out whether I was injured or not. "I-I guess I-"

"No, I get it," I chuckled, seating myself in my chair so I could finally relieve myself of the burning pain in my back and stomach. "I was a coward, and it's not fair of me to expect you just to fall in line when I'm ready." I assured, ready to take advantage of the situation by getting her back when she very well doesn't want to get hurt again.

She won't, I just need one last chance.

"Let me show you I'm serious, and we can go from there." I requested, taking her hand and pressing my lips to the palm, closing her fingers around my kiss. She clanched her fest tight, and I watched her slowly bring it up to her cheek, a soft smile on her lips as she looked down to me, sitting on the desk so her knees were between mine.

"I-I just don't want to make a fool of myself again." She mumbled, causing me to look her deeply into the eyes.

"It won't happen again, I promise." I smiled, and she scrunched her nose before relentling.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes, making me cheer in excitement, being sure to keep from moving too much and irritating my wounds.

"Great! When's your next night off?" I inquired, and she shrugged.

"I'm off tonight." She offered, but I shook my head.

"Too soon, I need to make this right. When's the next one?" I inquired.

"Saturday night?" She offered, charmed, and I grinned.

"Saturday it is." I grinned, leaning up slightly to meet her lips tightly. "I'll see you then."


	12. Eleven

*flashback*

“Hey, where were you yesterday?” Inquired Toni as she walked in with a white bag in her hand. 

“Out.” I muttered to myself, causing Toni to roll her eyes. 

“Out? Like, outside?” She scoffed, not believing me, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the doorway. 

“Yeah.” I insisted, as though it were obvious, but she continued to look at me in perplexity,to which I rolled my eyes before slowly getting out of the hospital bed, walking out the door with Toni tailing me as I walked down the hallway to an unoccupied stairwell, up three flights of stairs, with her help, of course. 

We stopped at the roof, and I opened the door to let her out, so she could overlook the city the way I had been doing these past few nights while Toni’s schedule went wonky for a moment. I’d snuck some blankets out here from earlier, so I grabbed them from the ground by the air vents, feeling their warmth from the warmth of the vents. I laid one on the ground in front of the divider that kept anyone from falling off the roof. 

She sat beside me, and I wrapped the other blanket around the two of us before lying my head on her shoulder. 

“I didn’t peg you as the kind of person who likes being outside.” Toni muttered, looking up at me with a small smile. 

“I’m not.” I shook my head, “But dying, and losing all my loves ones kind of put everything into perspective.” 

“Yeah, and how’s that?” She inquired. 

“I realized I was claiming the world as mine instead of respecting it as a living thing, as our source of life and humanity.” I didn’t look at her, I just looked at the moon as it settled high in the night sky, gracing the few people conscious enough to appreciate her beauty. 

“What are you gonna do about that?” She inquired softly. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted, “maybe start a garden?” I suggested, and she chuckled, reaching for my hand under the blankets and holding it tight in hers. 

“I think that’s a great start.” She commended. “I want to see it when you’re done.” She smiled, letting me do the same in response. 

“Of course.”

Of course I didn’t need an entire week to plan a date for Toni. In fact, I could very easily take ten minutes to sort out an amazing date for her on the day we arranged it, but I needed to work on getting better. I took the rest of the week off and rested, drinking plenty of fluids and eating lots of proteins to help build up muscle tissue and heal the torn tissue from the bullet. 

I slept all week, only getting up to get more soup, and to go to the bathroom. It was nice to finally feel at ease in my own skin, despite the two massive holes in them. 

It’s not like I’ve never recovered from a bullet wound before though, right? 

Anyway, today was the day I got a redo with Toni, and I’m so excited for it, because I’ve been waiting to really be hers for five and a half years. 

I told her I’d pick her up at her house on the southside at six, so I left at five to get a pot of flowers before heading across the bridge to the southside, where I would get her from her place. I walked up to her apartment, slowly, considering the fact that I was still in pain, and my wound was still healing. 

I knocked on the door to her loft twice, and the sound of barking came through the door, followed by the sound of hushing, before the door actually opened. 

“Hey,” smiled Toni, eyes coming down to the pot of roses I had in my hand with a brow risen. “That’s… interesting.” She chuckled, moving to take the pot from my hands, but I pulled it away. 

“It’s not for your house.” I informed with a soft, happy grin, “It’s a part of our date today.” 

“Oh?” Toni rose her brow, “Let me just feed Yoshi and get my jacket.” She required, running to the kitchen of her open-spaced house to grab a jar of dog food, where the little brown chihuahua was already standing by its bowl, waiting to be fed. She patted his head twice as he ate and ran to the hook by the door to grab her leather jacket, pulling it up over her hoodie before closing the door behind us and locking it. 

“Let’s go.” I grinned, holding my hand out for her to take. We walked out of the building, and past my car, causing Toni’s eyes to shift to it in confusion upon realizing we weren’t getting in. I winked down at her, and we kept walking forward until we made it to South Side Memorial. 

“Your idea of a date is going to see Clara?” She asked, stopping in her tracks before we made it into the hospital doors. 

“Actually,” I chuckled, “Clara was moved to the clinic in Athens for treatment with Doctor Evernever.” I chuckled, “Trust me.” I urged, pulling her by the hand into the hospital. 

“Afternoon, ladies.” Winked Mary from the reception desk, and we both waved as we walked up to the elevator, ascending to the top floor before walking to the stairwell. 

“Are we going up to the roof?” Chuckled Toni, and I winked over my shoulder before opening the door to the roof. I opened the door all the way for her to come out as well. “Oh my God.” Toni gasped as she looked around at the newly planted rooftop garden. There were planters filled with fruit trees and vegetable patches. About six feet up, there were fairy lights strung up on wooden posts installed into the edge of the roof. 

“Now, the kitchen can use real fruits and vegetables, instead of that gross canned and frozen stuff.” I smiled, and Toni turned to the right hand side, which consisted of flowers of all kinds. There was a little patch of unused dirt by the edge of the building, and I gave it to Toni to plant. There was already a little hand shovel, as well as some potting soil and a water tin. 

“I told you I wanted to become more in tune with the earth, and this is how I’m starting.” I shrugged as she set the plant down on the side of one of the planters. 

“You’ve always been in tune with the earth, baby,” she grinned softly, wrapping her arms around my waist and leaning up to kiss my lips softly. “I once saw you cross a busy street to throw a wrapper in the trash can, rather than throwing it or shoving it somewhere.” She giggled. 

“If it was a banana peel, I would’ve thrown it in the grass though.” I argued, and she rose a brow. 

“And it’s biodegradable, so you would’ve helped the earth.” She retorted. “You’ve always been amazing, Cheryl.” She hummed, and I felt a pang of guilt hit me in the stomach. 

“No,” I chuckled, looking down, “I’m just a person. I’ve spent too long being put on a pedestal, and now, I think all of that has made me make terrible mistakes.” 

Like putting on a mask and playing God by killing tons of people. 

“Like treating you like a second choice.” I exhaled, and she cupped my cheeks. 

“It’s okay, Cheryl, honestly. I understand, you’ve been through alot, and it isn’t fair to expect you to fall back into a normal life.” She assured, moving her hands down to take mine in hers. “You’re doing amazing work with the hospital, and with Clara, and I can’t stay mad at you with all the things you’ve done for me in the last two months alone.” 

“Oh, that reminds me!” I piped suddenly. “I uh…” I chuckled, scratching the back of my head before sitting on a stone bench between the two sides of the roof, pulling her to sit by my side. “I took some of Hiram’s advice.” I admitted, and she rose a brow. “I bought South Side Memorial.” I admitted, making her eyebrow shoot into her hairline. 

“What?” She huffed. 

“Yeah,” I grinned, “I found out that they were already planning on firing the staff, and that the owner was planning on filing for bankruptcy,” I rolled my eyes at the corruption of the owner. “The asshole.” I mumbled, “I checked what I could buy it for, and it was worth less than I was willing to donate, so I decided to buy it, that way everyone there will be in less selfish hands, rather than at Lodge Medical Center.” I smiled, watching as her face softened into a kind smile. 

“See? You’re an amazing person.” She promised, leaning her head on my shoulder and looking up beyond the cherry trees at the sun as it set upon the horizon, kissing Toni’s warm skin in a way that made my eyes water in awe of such a breathtaking work of art. 

“You look beautiful under the sunlight.” I whispered, moving a lock of hair from her face, and she looked up at me. 

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.” She teased, making me raise a brow. 

“You weren’t even looking at me.”

“So?” She shrugged, “I just knew you would.” She cheesed furiously, leaning up to kiss my cheek before taking my hand and kissing the back of it as well.

… 

We stayed and ate some of the fruits from the trees, before Toni and I planted the roses in the empty planter, admiring her work. 

“How did you pull all this off in a week?” Toni asked, and I chuckled. 

“Would you hate me if I said I paid some people to bring them in and plant them?” I smiled through my teeth, and she rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder against mine. 

“I could never hate you.” She sighed, “At least you’re using your money for good things, like great doctors for little girl with cancer, and hospital rooftop gardens.” She rolled her eyes, and I chuckled. 

“At least I told them what I wanted it to look like.” I justified, crossing my arms over my chest stubbornly, causing her to giggle. 

“Let’s go back to my place, there’s a movie I found that I wanna watch with you.” She demanded, pulling me back into the hospital so we could leave. 

We walked the streets of the south side, laughing and chuckling as we walked toward her apartment. 

About half way there, I had a weird feeling, one I couldn’t pinpoint. I looked to the side and noticed a black SUV riding slowly behind us, headlights off. 

Why is it always a black SUV? 

“I’m really happy you asked me to do this time.” Toni rocked back and forth as we walked, tugging me around as she smiled at me brightly. 

“I’m happy you agreed to go.” I admitted, brushing off the uneasy feeling I had. 

“C’mon, Cheryl, I’m always gonna be drawn to you, you gotta know that.” She chuckled, stopping beside a little silver Jetta to look me in the eyes, and I looked around us subtly before leaning down to kiss her, only for her to push my shoulders back with her hands. “I just have to say tha-” 

“Get down!” I whispered upon hearing a click, pulling Toni around the corner of a brick building we were standing in front of. 

“Cheryl, wh-” 

Toni was interrupted by the sound of an explosion, and I saw as the silver Jetta burst up in flames, the anti-theft alarm blaring as the paint melted off the metal of the vehicle. I’d know the sound of a pressure grenade anywhere, and it’s a good thing, because it could’ve killed Toni if I didn’t notice. 

Sure, it could’ve killed me too, but I would’ve been okay with dying if Toni was okay. If not, well… I’m pretty good at coming back from the dead, I’ve learned. 

Whoever did it would really regret it. 

“W-what the hell?” Stammered Toni, looking at me for a moment to check me, “Are you okay?” She inquired, and I hummed. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I assured, already knowing she was fine, because if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have been so adamantly trying to figure out what happened. I looked around the building and watched as a tall man in a suit walked up close, his face obscured by the darkness. 

“Riverdale Police Department!” Yelled Toni, pulling her gun from her belt and standing up to walk around me, only for me to pull her back against the bricks roughly. 

“Toni, please, don’t.” I exhaled, and I pushed my hand off of her. 

“Cheryl, what are you doing?” 

“Toni, he just threw a grenade at us and you think the law is going to stop him from killing us?” I inquired, and before she could answer, I heard a voice. 

“That’s right. I won’t stop until you’re both dead.” Chuckled the man, and I felt my blood run cold when I looked into the eyes of the man who faced me. 

I recognized him as the man who shot me in the chest and walked away, leaving me to die. 

“You.” I whispered, and he gave me a big, toothy smile. 

“Miss me, princess?” 

“W-what’s he talking about?” Toni inquired, and the big, strong man chuckled. 

“Oh, you don’t know?” He inquired, adjusting his tie as he stepped closer, but I stepped back, wrapping my arm back behind me around Toni to keep the two away. “I’m the one who KILLED her.” He chuckled, and I looked back at Toni through the corner of my eye, watching as her eyes widened in realization, and then her jaw clenched. “And her precious Jason, and that bitch they were with.” He laughed. 

“Her name was Heather.” I murmured through a clenched jaw, and he laughed. 

“I don’t care.” I assured, “What I do care about, is my orders,” he reached into the side of his jacket, “and my orders, are to kill you.” He pulled out his gun, and I heard Toni’s gun click. 

“Toni, don’t.” I demanded, and she scoffed. 

“I’m an officer of the law, Cheryl, I’m gonna do what I’m supposed to do.” She assured, before raising her gun, but before it could point toward him, I turned toward her, took the gun, and pulled the cartridge out, spitting the bullets out and throwing the empty shell off into the alley. 

“You’re an officer of the law, but your mine first, and I’m not gonna lose you too.” I insisted, but she didn’t have anything to say, considering the fact that her eyes were wide, jaw slack at the fact that I was able to do something like that. 

“How did you-” 

“Enough!” Growled the hulking man, pulling the slide of the gun back and pointing it at me again. “You’re both dying, no matter what you do to delay it.” He chuckled, his fingers twitching on the trigger. 

“No, hey, please, let her go,” I put my hands out in front of my in surrender, “I don’t care what you do to me, just leave her out of this.” He rose a brow before his lips quirked higher, a hearty, evil laugh coming from them. 

“She’s been in this since before you were.” He assured, tilting his head toward Toni over my shoulder. “Antoinette Topaz, age twenty six, daughter to Forsythe Pendleton Jones and Patricia Topaz, eldest sister to Forsythe Pendleton Junior and…” His eyebrows scrunched together as he racked his brain for a moment. “... Jillian Jones, also known as Jellybean, right?” He chuckled, “You’re not on great terms, are you?” He clicked his tongue for a moment, “I’ll be sure to send her my condolences when I tell her you’re dead.” 

“H-how do you know all that?” She stammered, her voice scared and broken. 

“Who do you think carried out their deaths?” 

“You.” She growled, and he rolled his eyes. 

“You’ve both dragged this out long enough.” He complained, straightening his arm and pulling the trigger. Before I could blink, Toni was pushing me out of the way, and I rolling up into a standing position again, grabbing Toni and running through the alley away from the tall, muscular man. 

“Where are we going?” Toni asked, and I hushed her as we weaved into another alley on the other side of the building closer to our initial destination. 

I had parked my bike here a few times as Dead Eye. 

Yeah, I’d have to tap into that side of me again for the first time in a week, and it could ruin my chances with Toni, but she was more important than my freedom. 

“Shh,” I whispered as we hid behind a building, listening to the sound of his feet crashing against the puddles. 

“He didn’t shoot at us while we were running, so that must mean that he’s almost out of ammunition.” Toni whispered, and I thanked God that I was with someone whose job was to pay attention to this kind of stuff. I removed my sweater from my body as I watched his shadow appear through the light cast down by a street lamp before quickly padding up to the corner, awaiting his approach, and rounding the base of the sweater around his neck, pulling back by the sleeves, by foot kicking the back of his knee to force him to the ground with a grunt, the gun going off randomly once as Toni ran up to grab the weapon from his grasp. She placed the gun in her belt before pulling out a pair of handcuffs, causing me to roll my eyes, because of course Toni is the type to carry both a gun and a pair of handcuffs with her everywhere she goes. She hooked the cuffs over his wrists and took him from me, ready to walk away with him. 

I have no idea where she planned to take him, she couldn’t walk three blocks over with him in her custody, go into her parking garage, grab her car and force him to get in. 

I mean she could, but we didn’t have to see that happen. 

Instead, I had to watch him step to the side, kicking his leg up and catching her in the jaw. She yelped and growled as he started to run away, the two of us both running to go after him behind the buildings of the south side, past blaring sirens and other crime. 

“I’m gonna call for backup!” She exhaled, blindly reaching into her pocket for her cellphone and calling speed dial. She spouted off her location, name, some numbers, and his appearance before hanging up and continuing to run with me, catching up the bit that came. God, if I was dressed appropriately, this would be so different. 

He was running through busy streets in his cuffs, dodging cars as they honked at him, us following not far behind as we did so.

“Here, go this way,” I suggested, “I’ll cut him off before the next block!” 

How fast could someone run with their hands cuffed behind their backs? 

I inhaled and exhaled quickly before turning a corner and running down the street as fast as I could, getting a block in a matter of moments before turning in through an alley and sprinting to the end, turning right and running toward him, which he didn’t notice, because he was looking behind him to see if Toni was still chasing him, but she wasn’t. He turned toward me in time for me to catch him in the stomach with my fist. He gasped, doubling over and allowing me to drag him into the alley, shoving him to the ground. 

“Tell me where Hiram is.” I demanded, and he chuckled. 

“Who are you to boss me around, bitch?” He asked, and I surged forward, kicking him in the throat, causing him to gasp and whimper for air. I bent down to his level and looked him in the eye. 

“I’m someone who is going to fucking cut your lungs out if you don’t tell me what I need to know. I know people too, man.” I assured, pulling the pocket knife I keep from my back pocket and straddling his hips and toying with the blade against his sharp jawline as though I was flirting, when really he knew, I was danger, and it was never safe to flirt with danger. “I can figure out everything there is to know about you, and your family, and all the people you’ve ever cared about.” I smiled at him diabolically, raking the edge of the blade against his throat, “I may be half your size, Mad Dog, but make no mistake, I was trained to be cutthroat and ruthless. I know how to make people like you suffer. Now, I suggest that if you want to get set free, you comply in telling me what I want to know.” 

… 

“I can’t believe everything that just happened.” Exhaled Toni as she sat by me on the couch of her loft, handing me a glass of water as she sat down. 

It’s been an hour since I let who I called Mad Dog go, and I knew everything I needed to know to take down Hiram Lodge for good, but for tonight, I needed to calm down, because I was ninety percent sure that I tore my stitches, and I didn’t want to bother Betty and Josie at eleven at night. I’d just go home late tonight and sleep it off until they’d come to check on me in the morning. 

“I’m angry that he got away.” I lied. 

Of course I wasn’t mad, I’m the one that picked the lock on the cuffs and let him go. 

“I’m happy you’re okay though.” She smiled, reaching up to grace her fingertips along my forehead, moving my hair so she could look at me more deeply. 

“I’m happy you’re okay too.” I smiled, leaning up to kiss her lips deeply for a moment before she pulled away. 

“Where’d you learn how to dismantle a gun like that?” She asked, causing me to laugh. 

“I watched a lot of cheesy crime shows and movies growing up, and I wanted to be a cop as a kid, so I took some classes over the summer on criminal justice.” I lied, and she rose a brow. 

“Is that so?”

No, it’s not. 

“Yes.” I giggled, before my laugh faded. “I’m sorry about him though. And I’m sorry about what you found out.” I frowned. 

“It’s okay.” She shrugged, “I’ve been waiting ten years to find him, and now, I’m closer to cracking the case than ever.” She smiled before leaning her head on my shoulder. “How are you holding up though?” She inquired, and I shrugged. 

“I’m so detached from that part of my life that I almost don’t care. I’m more angry that the same guy is the reason our families died.” 

We laid there together, speaking minimally before I decided it was time I go. She offered to let me stay the night, but I decided against it, as I had to check on my open wound as soon as possible. She kissed me goodnight, and I walked down to my car. 

It was raining when I exited the building, nearly limping at this point, and I eased into my car, hissing at the stinging sensation. I turned on my car, then the lights so that I could see once I lifted my shirt to assess the wound. 

There was blood crusted down my abdomen, and I was trying not to cry upon the sight or feeling, when I heard the passenger side door open, and someone sit inside. 

“Hey, I forgo-” Toni cut herself off when her eyes assessed my bullet hole, and I felt my body completely give up when I watched realization cross over her features. “Oh.”


	13. Twelve

“Toni, I-” 

“I don’t want to hear it.” She snapped, and I noted the way her jaw was clenched tightly, her eyes focused forward. It felt like she was trying not to cry, or scream, or something. She dropped my sweater on the floor of the car and opened the door again to get out. I hissed when I put my shirt back down, forcing myself out of the car too. 

“Toni, wait!” I grunted, chasing after the woman I was finally getting through to. “I-I’m sorry!” I called to her, running a few steps to grab her hand before she went back inside. She ripped her hand away from mine and turned around to look at me, tears welling in her eyes. 

“How could you!?” She asked, moving closer to me, poking my chest harshly. “How FUCKING could you!?” She called, her voice cracking as tears fell down her cheeks, the tracks they made against her skin glistening against the pale light of the full moon. “Cheryl, I’ve been confiding in you about Dead Eye for the last THREE MONTHS and what? You’ve been using the information I gave you to become better at not getting caught?” She scoffed, and I felt my own eyes sting. 

“Toni, i-it was never like that, I-” 

“You what, Cheryl?” She whimpered, stepping closer to me abruptly, causing me to step back, stumbling off the ledge of the sidewalk, into the wet gutter, soaking my shoe and pant leg. I could hear the despair in her voice, even through the sound of the rain clashing against the ground, and the pounding of my heart against my ribcage, and the throbbing of my wound against my brain. “You what?!” She sobbed. 

I didn’t know what to say. It hurt, seeing her in so much pain after a day of adventure, and happiness, and kisses, and hand holding. After finally realizing that I didn’t need to worry about hurting her, or losing her, or being found out anymore. 

All I could think was one thing. 

“I love you.” I whimpered, tears blending in with the rain falling upon my cheeks, trailing down. 

“Do you think that’s just gonna fix everything?” She inquired, her voice broken, probably as broken as my heart. 

But who was I to complain? I did this to myself, and to us, and to this city. 

“No, but I wanted you to know that none of this,” I pointed between the two of us, “none of it had to do with Dead Eye, I swear.” I promised, and she scoffed. 

“What good is your word when I’ve been pining after you, and waiting for you, and dreaming about you for the last six years of my life, Cheryl?” Her fingers were shaking. My bones were rattling, from the icy burn of the November rain and the cold sting of her words puncturing my heart. “I fucking shot you, Cheryl!” She cried, “And I was so happy.” She chuckled, shaking her head as her lips quivered against the pain on her face, deep in her eyes. 

God, this was more painful than any blade, any bullet I’ve ever felt. 

“I was so happy when I realized I could have possibly killed the person who terrorized my city, and my dreams. But now, I’m in pain, because I know that I could’ve killed the most important person in my life!” She cried, “And it makes me feel like shit, because my heart fucking aches for you, but you’re a killer!” She sobbed, and I stepped back up onto the sidewalk. 

“Toni, you’ve killed people too.” I cried, and I watched her jaw clench again as she shook her head. 

“Don’t you dare compare yourself to me!” She growled, and I sniffled. 

“Toni, I’m serious, all I did was-” 

“You thought you could play God!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, and I stepped close, hushing her with my hands forward. “You thought you could go around and execute whoever you want, just because you had some personal vendetta!” I moved closer, and tried to take her hands, but she pushed me away, “Don’t touch me!” She wailed, “I hate you!” She screamed, pushing me again, into the gutter for the second time, but I dodged a third push, catching her in mid-air to stop her from falling into the gutter, face first. I pulled her back up on the sidewalk, and we were close to each other, her eyes softening as she looked into mine. 

“Toni, I’m the same person I was five minutes ago,” I promised, “I’m the same person I was five years ago, I’m just stronger.” I assured, “Toni, I did this because of my family. Because of what Hiram Lodge did to them. Because of what he did to me, and what he did to your family.” I swallowed a lump in my throat, “I did this because I was getting close to you, and I didn’t want to lose another person I loved.” I admitted, trying to pull her closer, but before I could get closer, I felt a sharp blow hit my jaw. I stumbled back and placed my hand on my chin, watching as she rubbed her knuckles with one hand. 

She just punched me in the face. 

“How dare you try and manipulate me?!” She screamed even louder this time, and I sputtered, unsure of how to respond after being punched in the face by the woman I love. “Fuck you, Cheryl! You’re disgusting!” She spat, “I bet you’re the one who let that guy go, huh? You wanted to know where to find your white whale more than you wanted to make sure he wouldn’t come back around and kill me!” She stepped closer to me and poked my chest harshly, “You don’t care about anybody but yourself.” She said lowly, and I took her wrist in my hand softly. 

“Tell yourself that all you want,” I said husked, “but you can’t tell me who I care about.” I said through gritted teeth, “If I only cared about myself, I would’ve jumped off that roof all those years ago. If I only cared about myself, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.” My jaw slackened slightly, and I looked between her eyes for a moment, noting the way she looked down to my lips before leaning down to kiss her abruptly. 

To my surprise, she kissed me back with a fire and passion I’ve never felt before, her fists balling around the locks in my hair, pulling on them to the point that I almost focused on it as much as the pain in my heart, or in my abdomen. Her tongue stroked mine, and explored the roof of my mouth as she whimpered against me, pushing me away roughly. 

She had a wild, angry glint in her eyes as she glared at me, stepping away carefully.

“If I ever see you again, I’m arresting you, whether you’re Cheryl or Dead Eye.” She swore, walking away from me, into her apartment, and out of my life. 

… 

It’s been six weeks since Toni found me out, and I’ve been laying low, both from my company, and from the city as Dead Eye. I haven’t been down in the basement since I got home from South Side Memorial that night.  
Luckily for me, owning a hospital and treating your employees well comes with its perks. 

Today, I got to visit Clara after her treatment, and with the pain I gave to myself, I was excited to see a friendly face. Well, as close to excited as one can be when they’ve lost one of the few people left in their life.

“Hey, Cece.” I smiled to my young friend, who had a cap on her head from her chemo, and she was lying in bed with her little bunny clutched against her chest under her blankets. 

“I saw you on the news.” She said softly, and I rose a brow. 

“I never did any interviews.” I chuckled, sitting in a chair by her bed. 

“Not you, the other you.” She recalled, “You kill people.” She mumbled, making my chest ache. 

“Clara, I-” 

“Don’t worry.” She assured, reaching a hand out from under the blanket to take my hand with a soft smile. “I know you do it to protect people like me. My daddy talked with me about it.” 

“What did he say?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat. 

“He told me I shouldn’t hurt people, but that you’re doing a lot for the little guys, and that he’s happy that someone is finally catching the bad guys with money who won’t be caught by the police.” She explained. “I know that I’m extra safe with you, because you now how to protect me if I was in danger.” She smiled at me in reassurance. 

“Clara, I…” I trailed off for a moment, “I stopped being Dead Eye. Your Auntie Toni found out, and is mad at me. She said she’d arrest me if she saw me ever again.” I explained, and her eyes widened as she sat up slowly. 

“How did she find out?” I sighed, and laced my fingers together. 

“She shot me,” my eyes widened slightly, brows rising with concern, causing Clara’s jaw to drop. 

“Can I see?” She grinned, making me roll my eyes with a soft smile before standing up and lifting up the hem of my top to show her the mostly healed scar on my abdomen. “How long ago was that?” She inquired, making me shrug. 

“A few days after you went into chemo. Maybe two months ago.” I informed, “she found out it was me when I took off my shirt and she saw the hole, a week later.” She crinkled her nose a narrowed her eyes at me. 

“Why would you do nasty things right after you got shot, auntie Cherry?” She asked, and I was speechless for a moment. 

“It wasn’t-” I cut myself off, “goodness, child, how do you even know what that is!?” I sputtered, and she shrugged. 

“I’m ten, not stupid.” 

“Fair enough.” I shrugged, and she giggled. 

“I hope you and my aunt Toni make up.” She shrugged, “I liked when she came in, all smiley and happy all the time.” 

“What makes you think I did that? You’re the one who makes everyone smile.” I grinned, and she rolled her eyes. 

“Again, auntie, I’m ten, not stupid.” She deadpanned. 

Oh, feisty I see.

“She got really serious after my mom died.” She admitted, “And after we found out I had cancer, I didn’t see her smile again until I saw her with you.” 

“Seriously?” I chuckled in disbelief. 

“Maybe you’re the stupid one.” She insulted. 

“Hey!” I scolded in defense, and she shrugged. 

“My auntie Toni loves you more than she loves my dad.” She pointed out. “One time, she was staying with me at night, and I asked her if she loves you.” She smiled softly, “She didn’t say anything, but she had this big ‘ol smile on her face.” 

“I miss her so much.” I sighed sadly. 

“Me too. Daddy said she hasn’t been returning his calls for the last few days, so I haven’t seen her in like two weeks.” She admitted, making me raise a brow. 

“Two weeks?” I blinked in confusion, and she shrugged. 

“When you said you were fighting, I thought maybe it was because she didn’t wanna run into you.” 

That was why I was staying away, in all honesty. 

“Huh.” I pondered for a moment, before brushing it off. Toni’s a grown woman who is more than capable of taking care of herself. 

… 

“Cheryl, Cheryl! Cheryl, guess what!” Called Josie as she slammed my front door and ran through the hallway to my room with a giddy look in her eyes. 

“What?” I rose a brow, and she fell to her knees to lean over my bed and flash her hand at me, revealing a big white diamond sticking from a metal frame that wrapped around her finger. My jaw dropped as my eyes caught Betty walking into the room, her arm braced against the doorway, a soft, content smile on her face as she looked at her new fiance. 

“You didn’t!” I gasped, and Josie slammed her hands on the bed excitedly. 

“She did!” She screamed, standing up and turning around to wrap her arms around the neck of her beloved, who took her waist and used the position to pull her in and kiss her deeply for a few seconds. 

“I’m really happy for you guys.” I smiled softly, sitting back in my bed and continuing to toy with the marble in my hands. The one from the evidence bag that Lulu gave me back when I first got back to Riverdale. 

“What is that?” Inquired Betty as she walked closer to my bed, putting a hand out for me to drop the egg-sized marble into her hand. 

“Just some marble that was found at the scene of my parents’ accident, along with the thumb drive with all those photos.” I shrugged as she and Josie examined it closely. 

“I’ve seen this before.” Josie squinted her eyes at it. 

“Me too.” Betty hummed. “Mind if we take a look at it down stairs?” She inquired, resulting in my shrug. 

“You never asked permission before.” I teased. 

“Y’know, depression looks terrible on you.” Josie retorted as she moved to follow Betty out of the room. I rolled my eyes before sliding out from under my blankets and following them. 

I walked down the cold stairs with my bare feet, my spine tingling in discomfort. There were still old clothes covered in dried blood from the night I was shot, and it felt cold and dusty. 

“Maybe you could work out a little while we do some research?” Betty suggested, poking my bare stomach below my sports bra. “You’re starting to look a little pudgy.” She winked, making me roll my eyes before walking down the stairs and starting to stretch. 

“You’re no better.” I mumbled, and Josie looked at me over her shoulder. 

“Oh, that’s not true.” She smirked, walking up behind her lover and lifting her shirt, revealing a set of protruding abdominal muscles. “Baby’s been doing a lot better. She had me up against the wall the other day and she didn’t slow down for a minute.” Betty glared at her fiance, forcing the shirt out of Josie’s grasp and down over her stomach with a grumble before setting the marble on the computer desk and powering the monitors on. 

“Change of plans, Lulu’s at the door.” Betty informed, and I groaned before running up the stairs. “Stay down here until I get rid of her, please. Keep the coms on.” I requested before opening the basement door and walking to the front door to answer it. 

“Lulu,” I smiled tightly at the tall leather-bound woman, “to what do I owe the pleasure?” I smiled, and the woman’s eyes raked over my abdomen for a moment, her throat tightening before she cleared it to speak. 

“Uh, sorry if I was interrupting anything,” chuckled the woman as she tore her eyes away from my many scars. At first, I wondered if she had figured me out from looking at me, but it was impossible. My scar looked old enough to blend in with the others by this point, as it had healed completely. She was just shocked that someone could go through that much torture, and to her knowledge, all in one night. “I was just wondering if you’ve seen Toni. I’ve been trying her cell for days, and I went by her place, but it was empty. I know you haven’t been on speaking terms,” her eyes shifted to her feet, “but I know she has a hard time staying away from you, so I came by to see if she was with you, or if she told you where she went.” She smiled fakely, and my brows scrunched together. 

“It’s strange, I was just talking to her niece last week and she said that Toni hasn’t been by for a visit in a couple weeks.” I divulged, “She would never miss a visit with Clara.” 

“Okay.” Exhaled the blue eyed woman, her breath shaky. “Give me a call if she stops by, okay?” She asked, and I nodded, swallowing the pain in my chest at the idea that my beloved could be injured. 

“You do the same.” I nodded, and she did the same before turning to walk back to her bike. I closed the door and locked it before running back to the basement, down the stairs, and to the computer desk. 

“Did you guys hear that?” I inquired of the two women who sat, eyes buried into the screens of their computers. 

“I’m already pulling up footage from the Riverdale Police Department, her apartment, and even Pop’s, in case she stopped by there.” Josie assured distractedly as her fingers clicked the keyboard furiously. 

“And I found the marble.” Betty informed. I rushed over to look over her shoulder at the screen. She was looking at a zoomed in picture from the album on the thumb drive. It was the main jewel in the middle of a hideous necklace she was wearing during a portrait that was taken with Hiram Lodge. 

“It’s just a piece of costume jewelry.” I scoffed with the roll of my eyes, and Betty scrambled out of the chair, going up the stairs and disappearing behind the door to the kitchen before coming back seconds later with a hammer. She placed the marble on the table and dropped the hammer down on top, making Josie jump as the red glass shattered, revealing what looked like a little USB chip. 

“This must be really important if everyone went through so much trouble to hide it.” She hummed, picking the chip up and inspecting it before showing me. I flipped it over, and my blood ran cold at the inscription in the plastic on the back. 

DJL96

“We need to see what’s on this chip.” I demanded, and Betty moved to do just that when Josie turned to look at me. 

“Uh, Cheryl.” 

“Did you find her?” I asked, moving to look at her monitor.

“No, but this information is just as important.” She admitted as my eyes adjusted to the sight of the screen.

It was a news headline. 

‘Billion Dollar Company Owner,Cheryl Blossom Revealed as Vigilante, Dead Eye.’


	14. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make sure you comment, kudo and share this, and my other books for more frequent updates! I update the ones that are most liked more frequently, so my book, Wolves will be what I update next. Stay tuned, and enjoy this 5k word chapter!!

“Cheryl, we all have to go.” Betty demanded, grabbing the SD card from the computer and sticking it in her pocket. “Suit up, grab your bike, take what you can in a backpack if you need. Get somewhere safe while Toni and I pack up what we can. Police are gonna be here any minute to arrest you because this evidence is inadmissible.” She scrambled to grab the computers and cords so she could put them in the trunk of her car. 

“How could this even happen?” I whispered to myself, unsure of how this bomb could’ve been dropped so suddenly. 

“That’s not something we can worry about right now.” Josie assured, shoving keyboards and half-built gadgets into her backpack. “What you need to do is get out of here.” 

“You’re right.” I exhaled, scrambling to get my suit on. I pulled it off the hanger and shoved my legs inside, grabbing a tank top and slipping it on before sliding on a thermal top, then the hood, since I never had time to buy a new vest. It wasn’t ideal, but I could probably find one. I put it one, grabbed my quiver of arrows, my bow, my keys, and ran upstairs. I dropped them on the table before rushing to my room, grabbing my hearing device, and my audio inhibitor, putting them on, and searching through my drawer for the cloth to put over my face. I grabbed a backpack and threw a few things in there, including a toothbrush, paste, a hair brush and ties, a burner phone, a charger, some batteries for the voice inhibitor and the earpiece, a small makeup bag filled with ten one hundred dollar bills, one hundred one dollar bills, fifty tens, and a hundred twenties, some regular clothes, and two polaroid pictures, one that Toni took of me while we were on one of our car hood dates, and one from when I took the camera and started taking a bunch of goofy pictures of her. I looked at them for a moment, assessing the big, bright smile I had on my face, one I found hard to replicate without her. I felt the second one, and closed my eyes to take a deep breath in, feeling her essence. Feeling her soul, as it was bound to this photo that was taken when there was so much love in our hearts. 

“Cheryl, I hear sirens! We’re going to my apartment, keep your earpiece on for when we get home!” Betty called as she closed the front door and locked it. I rushed around for a few more seconds before leaving my phone on the bed and running out. 

I walked out of the house, into the backyard with my backpack tucked under my cloak in front of me as the quiver rested on my back with my bow. I mounted my bike, pulled the cloth over my face and turned it on to leave out of the back alley, through the east side of the neighborhood, where no sirens were coming from. 

I drove through the rural parts of town in bewilderment, unsure of where to go at this point. I couldn’t go to Kevin’s house, because Kevin was married to Fangs, who is Lulu’s brother. And Lulu and her wife are both officers of the law. 

The only place I could think of was a place I dreaded being. 

“Home sweet home.” I sighed as I took off my helmet to look at the million dollar house, standing in the middle of this lot with empty, unused cars, modeled years ago. There were vines growing up the side of the house after having been unoccupied for the last five and a half years. I put my helmet back on before driving the bike into one of the seven sheds, the one the furthest from the front, a lock on the hatch, the key on top of the doorframe. 

I took my things in through the back, which we never locked, because we always kept the front gate locked and guarded. I decided to work from the crawlspace on the west wing of the house, on the fifth floor up, in a storage closet in one of the eleven guest rooms. 

I’d be able to escape before any police officer could detect me in a house this big with security cameras everywhere, and a Josie and a Betty on my team. 

I looked around my old bathroom for a candle and took it up into the crawlspace with a book of matches so that I could see what I was doing. I looked through one of the many linen closets for some blankets and pillows, ones that would go unnoticed if someone came in to see if I was there at any point. I made a makeshift sleeping space for myself out of the blankets and pillows, and removed my cloak to set beside my quiver by the hatch of the crawlspace in case I would need to leave in a hurry. I slipped on my hoodie and set out the two photos beside each other, my heart aching to see Toni again. 

I wasn’t so much worried about myself as Toni. Sure, she was a police officer, and she had to strength and training to defend herself, but not from Hiram. Not from a man who’s already on the run. 

He had nothing to lose at this point, and he made it clear through Mad Dog just what he wanted for her. But something tells me, now that I think about it, that Mad Dog is the reason behind a couple things. 

He’s obviously part of the reason Toni was so mad at me. However, my theory is that he figured out that I was Dead Eye, or that he told Hiram, who figured it out. I also think he noticed just how much I care about Toni. 

Hiram wouldn’t kill Toni just yet if it meant keeping her alive would get me to go find her. 

“Cheryl?” I heard Josi’s voice through the coms, startling me out of my mind. 

“Hey, I’m safe.” I said lowly, “I’m in the crawlspace at my parents’ old place.” 

“Okay, good.” Josie sighed in relief. 

“Cheryl,” Betty called, “I retrieved all the files from DJL ninety seven.” She assured. 

“What do they say?” I asked in a hurried, eager tone. 

“I’m not sure yet, it’s a lot of codes to things, mostly, but a few attached files to deleted emails.” I heard rapid clicking from the other end of the line, the only thing I heard, other than silence. “Oh my God.” Exhaled Betty in exasperation. 

“What?” I snapped. 

“Hiram was responsible for that Jingle Jangle outbreak in two thousand ten.” She divulged, and Josie spoke up. 

“And the Greenlight outbreak in Freelin, two thousand five, back before he moved to Riverdale.” She explained. 

“He runs prostitution rings, and hosts snuff films.” Betty admitted. 

“So, he’s the actual worst.” I rolled my eyes. 

“Cheryl, there’s evidence that he was trying to get your parents killed.” Betty detailed. 

“Journal entries of your mother’s, speaking about how she figured it all out, and she saw someone following her, and how she was attacked on her walk to get lunch from work.” Josie explained. 

“And pictures taken by a PI of him selling drugs to teenagers and paying prostitutes to come home with him.” Betty droned. 

“It all makes sense now.” I laughed bitterly, my heart clenching in my chest. “He partnered up with my parents, and Penelope got too close, figuring things out about him that he didn’t want figured out. She knew he’d try and have her killed, so she started to document it all and put in on this card.” I laughed, “It’s genius!” I exclaimed, “When Hiram killed my parents, he went to look for the file, maybe even paid off a guy from the police department to do it, and found nothing. So, he went to the closest source, but he’s a misogynist, so he didn’t think to ask me.” I rolled my eyes. 

“When he found out you were alive, he partnered with you to keep you in check.” Josie pieced together. 

“He connected the dots when I tried to put him in his place, and was only reassured when I let Mad Dog go, allowing him to tell Hiram who I am.”I scoffed in disbelief, shaking my head in disbelief. “I guess I wasn't as smooth as I thought.” 

“What do we do now?” Josie asked, and I shrugged to myself. 

“We need to find Toni.” 

… 

“Alright, I've hacked into the Thornhill surveillance system.” Josie divulged.

“It only took you three days.” Grumbled Betty. 

“Shut up, colonizer.” Josie hissed. “Keep tinkering and let me do my own thing.” 

“Did you get anywhere with Toni?” I inquired. 

“No, but I'm almost into the personal records and emails of Hiram, with all the shit on DJL Ninety Six to help me get some-” she cut herself off with silence. 

“What? What happened?” 

“I just realized that Detective Leatherbelly's wife is Hiram Lodge's daughter.” Josie admitted, making my jaw drop. 

“What made you realize that?” I asked, sitting up from my place of sleep in high alert. 

“She's here, Cheryl, you new to go!” 

Immediately, I rushed to shove everything in my bag, put it on, then my quiver and cloak. 

I folded the blankets and pillows as quickly as I could, running down the hall to put them in the linen closet before darting down the stairs of the west wings. 

“She picked the lock to the front door.” 

I pulled my hood up and put my cloth over my face before rushing through the backyard to get my bike from the shed.

I rolled the bike down the driveway and out of the gate before mounting it and zooming down the road. 

“Detective Mantle came by this morning,” Josie reminded, “now that he's off our trail, you can come here. Hurry.” She demanded, and I immediately started toward the bridge. 

It was sun down on a Monday afternoon, so I was forced to weave in and out on cross-bridge traffic. Luckily, the only police precinct in town was on the North Side, so by the time they caught on to my location, I was across the bridge, on the other side of traffic. 

I drove around South Side Memorial, through allies and behind Toni's apartment building, turning on the visual cloak before dismounting and taking my bow, and a grappling arrow. I pointed it up at her fire escape, and took deep breath in, calming the pounding of my heart against my ear drums as I shot off the arrow. 

I climbed up the rope attached to the arrow and jumped the rest of the way into the apartment.

I pried the window open and slipped inside, looking around for any clue of where she'd be. 

“What are you doing at Toni’s?” Josie scolded. 

“I'm trying to see if I missed something.” I ensured as I looked through a stack of bills on her coffee table. 

Nothing. 

I went up the ladder to her room, looking in her closet, thinking maybe if she took her jacket, or a bulletproof vest, I’d see if she left voluntarily, or in a hurry or not. 

Her vest was still hanging there. I decided to take it and put it on, since mine was gone and being on the run meant having limited resources.

I looked at her table, revealing a notepad. I flicked through the empty pages for a moment, when I my eyes grazed by a scrawling that flashed from a random empty page. 

1432 Thistle Place, Greendale, New York. 

Come alone if you want her alive, sweetheart.

Oh God. 

“Hey guys, change of plans, I need you to get me to 1432 Thistle Place.” I demanded, moving to slip out of the window again when a picture frame on a shelf by the front door caught my eye.   
My feet her moving toward it before I could even will myself not to. 

It was a picture of the two of us. She took it on her phone five years ago. She was kissing my cheek, and I had a soft smile on my face. We were still in the hospital. 

Things were much simpler back then. Back before I left her, and broke her heart so many times.

I wish we could go back to that.

“Oh, fuck, Toni, Lulu-” 

“Riverdale PD!” I heard from the other side of Toni's door, startling me. I grabbed the frame and stuck it in my quiver before running toward the window. “Freeze!” She yelled when the door burst open, and I held my gloved hands up in the air, turning around to look at her. She was looking at me down the barrel of her gun, glare in her blue eyes. 

Her jaw clenched, then unclenched before she lowered her weapon.

“I want to see your face, Cheryl.” She cleared her throat, and I sighed before lowering my hood, then my cloth. I turned off the frequency inducer and cleared my throat. 

“I have to find her.” I said through a shaky voice, and I watched her eyes soften as she blinked, putting her gun back into her holster. 

“I know.” She sighed, and I rose a brow at her immediate compliance. She inhaled deeply, her voice shaky as she blinked. “If you don't bring her back home safe, I'll snap your neck with my bare hands.” She gritted, and I nodded. 

“I'll contact you if I need you.” I assured, moving to put the cloth back on. 

“Everyone knows who you are, Blossom.” She advised, “Might as well stop hiding behind that mask and face your city.” She reached a hand out, stepping closer to receive the cloth from my hand, replacing it with the gun from her holster. 

“I don’t use guns.” I assured, moving to give it back, but Lulu held a hand up for me to take it. 

“Toni does. Now, go find my best friend.” She demanded.

I nodded to her one last time before ducking out of the window and jumping from the fire escape to the ground. I mounted my bike and zoomed off. 

“That was cute.” Josie gawped, and Betty scoffed. 

“She just threatened to snap Cheryl's neck.” she reminded.

“I know. But Lulu cares about Cheryl because she means a lot to Toni, and because Toni means a lot to Lulu.” 

“Okay, seriously, I need you to tell me how to get to Greendale.” 

It was a twelve hour drive, but it was cut in half by my driving in and out of traffic, much faster than the limit. 

The perks of having a motorcycle.

It was another old warehouse it a creepy little town, almost completely unoccupied. By the time I got there it was around six in the morning. 

“There are almost no security cameras in this city because of how old it is, Cheryl, so you’ve got to be sure to plant some eyes.” Josie informed, and I grumbled before moving to case the warehouse. There were two doors, a front and a back, and six windows that were accessible from the ground. Two in the front, two on the east end, one on the west end, and one in the back. I tried the back door, and cursed to myself upon realizing it was locked. I pushed the dumpster across the alley in front of it, so it stop an easy getaway from Hiram, should he try and run from me. I slid in through the back window, planting an arrow cam in the corner. 

“Arrow cam one is online.” Betty muttered in my ear. I pulled my hood over my head and opened the door from the storage closet, slipping through a cold, narrow hallway, ears tuned into my surroundings. I listened for any indication of Hiram’s location, hearing nothing. I pulled out another arrow can, drawing the string on my bow back to shoot the arrow at the wall of the room attached to the hallway I occupied. 

“Arrow cam two is online.” Josie ensured from the safety of her apartment. 

I slid down the hall and listened for any sound from beyond a door close by. I opened it, and exhaled in relief before shooting another arrow through a cardboard box. 

“Arrow cam three, online.” 

I repeated the process for the next two rooms, until I hit the third door, coming across a familiar face. 

“Toni,” I whispered, closing the door behind me to untie her from the chair, allowing her to remove the cloth gag from her mouth, her chest heaving. 

It was now that she was okay that I noted the dry blood crusted on her top lip, having dripped from her nose. Her lip was cut, left eye bruised and slightly swollen. 

“You found me.” She exhaled, her eyes raking over my leather clad body. 

“Of course I did.” I sighed, and she placed her lips over her lips, not getting up from the chair she was tied to just moments ago. 

I listened intently to my surrounding, noting the sound of a car engine shutting off, and doors closing. 

“Cheryl, reach into the little pocket in your quiver and hand Toni an earpiece.” Betty demanded, and I hid behind the door to grab what I needed, tossing it to Toni, who gave me a look of confusion. 

“Put it in your ear.” I rolled my eyes, and she rose her brow before doing as I asked. 

“Hi, Toni, it’s Josie. Betty’s here too. We’re gonna help get you out of here.” She informed, and I watched Toni’s eyes widened. 

“I’m not actually Cheryl’s cousin, by the way. I’m a software and mechanical engineer.” She admitted, but before Toni could say anything, Josie spoke up. 

“Cam two picked up Hiram Lodge and two guards walking through the front door. Toni, act like you’re still tied up.” She assured, and Toni rolled her eyes before tying the gag around her mouth again, then pulling her hands behind her back and wrapping her arms behind her back and tangling her legs around the front legs of the chair. I took an arrow and shoved it into the big black trash bag in the corner so they could see. 

“Cam 6 is online.” Betty assured. 

“Cheryl, hide behind the door, they’re gonna walk in.” Josie demanded, and I drew an arrow out of my quiver, crossing it with my bow, ready to hone in as the door opened enough for Hiram to slip inside, then closed behind him as he looked at Toni, who was looking down. 

“You’re hungry, right?” He asked, a smug tone in his voice as he chuckled at my beloved, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a melted candy bar, dropping it on the floor. “Don’t worry,” he hummed, “you’ll have a nice lead lunch if your girlfriend doesn’t come get you by the end of tonight.” He smirked, and I drew back my arrow as soon as I sensed him turning around. 

The arrowhead was inches from his face, and he chuckled as soon as he looked at me. 

“You’re done for now, Hiram Lodge.” I ensured, and he rose a brow. 

“Just like I was done for when your girlfriend here shot you?” He chuckled smugly. 

“You don’t fear death at all, do you?” I inquired bitterly, and he shrugged. 

“Death fears me, sweetheart.” He winked. 

“Guards are right outside the door!” Betty shouted. 

“They have guns!” Josie gasped, and as soon as I heard the door knob turn, I kicked Hiram in the stomach. Before he fell, Toni stood, grabbing the gun from the back of his pants and kicking him down the rest of the way, pointing the gun at the door in time for it to open in front of me. She shot off three bullets, resulting in one heavy thud of a body on the ground. 

“One of four down.” Betty said in my ear, and one walked in past the door, gun pointed at Toni’s face. 

I sheethed my bow and arrow into my quiver before jumping to straddle his waist from behind, bracing one hand on his jaw, one on his forehead, and turning as hard as I could. I felt his bone snap in my hands, then his body collapse beneath me before his finger could even twitch to the trigger. She pointed the gun down at the unconscious man, her lip quivering, jaw clenched as she looked at him with pure hatred in her fiery eyes. 

“Toni, no, you can’t.” I whispered, and she chuckled bitterly, looking up at me with a look saying that I was being ridiculous. 

“Why can you kill people due to personal vendetta, but I can’t?” She asked, her finger moving from the trigger guard to the trigger. 

“Because I’m selfish.” I admitted, and her eyes twitched up at me again for a split second. “Nobody needs me like they need you, so if you do this, you’ll go to prison, and you’ll have let everyone down.” I reminded, and she rolled her eyes. 

“I needed you!” She screamed, catching me off guard, “You let me down!” She sobbed, and I inhaled deeply. 

“Mad Dog is headed down the hall, your way, so whatever you’re arguing about, do it another time.” Betty demanded, and I sighed in relief when Toni reluctantly stepped over Hiram’s unconscious body and ran out of the room. I did the same, retrieving my bow, and an arrow before chasing her down the hall. 

“The back door is blocked!” I warned, and the blood-stained woman stopped in her tracks, looking into a bend around the hall, looking at me, pressing her finger to her lips to indicate that I needed to be quiet. 

She pointed her gun and fired three bullets before the gun clicked, indicating it was out of rounds as. She grunted before throwing the gun into the hallway, where heavy, quick-paced footsteps came from. She ran toward the exit across the main warehouse room, but we were stopped when my ears were assaulted by another gunshot. I turned around, and Mad Dog was standing there, chest heaving with anger as he pointed the gun our way. I stepped in front of Toni and shot off an arrow, catching him in the chest as he hit me in mine with the bullet, causing me to stumble back into Toni, who screamed in shock. I waited for him to fall to his knees and drop his gun before turning around and demanding Toni follow me out the door. We ran down the street, around a corner and between a building and a large trash can, where my bike was hidden. I mounted it, and instructed Toni to do the same. 

“Josie, initiate arrow cam self-destruct.” I demanded, and she made a noise of compliance. We listened as I took off the bulletproof vest, something that made Toni visibly relax when she realized I was wearing one. I pulled the bullet out of the fabric of the vest and stuck it in my pocket before handing it to Toni. 

“What? No, you need it.” She shook her head stubbornly, and I shook my head. 

“I’ve been shot so many times, I might as well already be bulletproof. You’ll be behind me, so you need the most protection, in case someone comes after us from behind.” I demanded, and she reluctantly put it on. I stuck the helmet on her head and turned on the engine in time to hear the noises that came from the arrow cameras that blew up. 

“I still hate you.” She grumbled as she sat behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. 

“That’s fine. As long as you’re alive.” I smiled before taking off. 

We drove in near silence for a good five minutes before Toni squirmed against me. 

“Cheryl, I think we’re being followed.” Toni worried, “It’s big, black SUV.” 

Just like the one Mad Dog followed us in on our date. 

“Grab an arrow with a purple nock and stick it into the seat behind you.” I resolved. 

“Nock?” She asked in confusion. 

“The feathers, baby.” Josie chimed, making Toni flinch in a start before she grabbed the arrow and did as she was told. 

“How can you stand that?” She muttered, and I shrugged as I geared forward to go faster. 

“You get used to them being in your head when they don’t ask permission to come in your house ever.” 

“How many times have we saved your ass?” Betty snarked. 

“Yeah, keep it to ya own self, ugly.” Josie added. “Anyway, stay calm, but Mad Dog is on your tail in the truck.” 

“Seriously? I literally shot him in the chest, why won’t he just die already?” I grunted. “Toni, there’s a handgun in the back of my quiver.” I offered, and she reached up into the satchel for the weapon as the SUV moved closer to us. “Do what you have to do.” I mumbled. 

“Wait, this is Lulu’s gun.” Toni said in fear. 

“Don’t worry, hun, Cheryl didn’t kill Lulu.” Josie chimed. 

“Actually, Lulu threatened to snap her neck if she doesn’t find you.” Betty added, and I rolled my eyes. 

“As if I needed to be told at all.” I muttered. 

“What was that?” 

“Nothing.” I shook my head. 

“She said that she didn’t need anyone to tell her to find you, and that’s because she still fucking loves you, and all she’s been trying to do for the last three months is find a way to keep you safe from Hiram Lodge.” Josie clarified, making me roll my eyes.

“There’s literally a fucking lunatic chasing after us, so let’s focus on that.” I demanded as I heard the engine growling. 

“The window is rolling down, and- WATCH OUT!” Betty shouted, just in time for bullets to start flying toward us. I began to swerve, so to avoid the bullets from hitting Toni, or the tires of the bike. 

Toni ducked, and reached back to shoot off one bullet at him. I heard the tire pop, followed by the sound of it flapping against the cement. 

“Where the hell did he even get a fucking semi automatic?” Complained Josie, making my heart wrench. 

Helmets were meant to protect us from the ground, not bullets, and if he could shoot off thirty rounds in ten seconds, one was bound to hit Toni’s head. 

“Betty, did you ever fix the last lever on the bike?” 

“I never got to it, wh-” she cut herself off, “absolutely not! I spent months on those image inducers!” She complained. 

“I have to. Toni, shoot out his tires. Slow him down.” I demanded, and I heard the other tire blow out following a single gunshot. I enhanced speed to as go as fast as my bike willed, which was 210 MPH, before reaching to the strap of my quiver and pressing the button that kept it latched to me. It fell away, and I threw it as far offroad as I could with one hand before bracing myself. “Get ready to jump off!” 

“What?!”

“Make sure your body is as limp as possible!” I demanded, flipping the bottom switch on the handle and pulling Toni off the bike, to the side of the road. We rolled down into the dirt by the side, and I dragged her behind a small hill. 

We watched the bike stutter, and swerve around before falling back into the SUV, just in time for it the explode against the hood, blowing the hunk of metal back into a fiery heep. 

“Oh my God!” Toni screamed, her hands hitting helmet in shock. I chuckled with a his as I got up and wiped the dirt and thistles from my clothes and hair. I lifted my shirt to assess the bruise on my chest, as it had started to actually hurt. 

Toni stood up and her eyes looked at me, her hand moving to touch the bruise forming on my skin. 

“Vest bruises suck.” She complained.

“Yeah, I chuckled, but compared to the alternative, I'm okay with this.” I chuckled, hissing as she caressed the center of the bruise where it was already darkest. 

“I located a cargo train headed to Riverdale that's due to pass by you. It's about a mile away, and it'll come around in about fifteen minutes.” Betty took the initiate, and I sighed. 

“Let's get power walking then.” 

… 

Y’know, my first instinct when I saw your gunshot wound that night was to pass it off as Mad Dog having shot you.” Toni admitted as the train tracks came into our sights. “I knew, deep down that you were Dead Eye, but I kept convincing myself that you weren’t, because I chose see the best in you, rather than looking for the worst, like I used to.” She sighed, and I felt my chest ache.

“I'm so sorry that I hurt you.” I exhaled. 

“I felt so stupid for not letting myself believe it too.” She divulged, “I felt like I was failing my brother and my dad, letting a killer run rampant when I knew who she was and exactly how I could take her in.” 

“Honestly, if you arrested me that night, I would've let you.” I admitted. 

“Good, because I'll be arresting you as soon as we find Hiram and bring him in.” She swore.

“Or kill him.” 

“Legally.” She demanded, and I shrugged. 

“I’m going to prison anyway, right?”


	15. Fourteen

“I really wish I ate that fucking candy bar before I knocked out that asshole.” Toni complained from where she laid in the farthest corner of the train car from me, holding her stomach. 

“I’m sure that if you wanted, we could get off and you could get something to eat. I brought money, and you could use it to rent a car.” I suggested. 

“Mm, bad idea, baby.” Josie said through the coms, “Josie was reported missing by Chuck yesterday, so now people are searching for the both of you.” 

“Yeah, I saw a blog saying they think Dead Eye kidnapped Toni and is holding her captive.” Betty chimed, causing Toni to groan, lying her head down against the bulletproof vest roughly. 

“Don’t worry, y’all, you’ll be at the Riverdale loading station in six hours.” Josie assured. 

“What are we supposed to do until then?” I complained. 

“I don’t know, but I have work in the morning, and if I don’t go to sleep, I’ll probably end up accidentally planting a microchip inside of my assistant’s brain.” Betty grumbled. 

“Baby girl can’t sleep without me. I’ll keep the speakers on, that way you can just call or hit the distress button on your quiver to get us to wake up. There’s no reason for you to in danger on a train with no passengers.” 

“Don’t jinx it.” Garbled Toni, making me sigh. 

It’s been almost two days, and with all the stops and unloading that has been done, our twelve hour trip has been quadrupled. 

Two days in a small confined area with a woman who is so mad at me that she won’t even look me in the eyes. 

“Toni, we might as well try to talk, since we’re gonna be here for the next six hours.” I suggested, and she scoffed with the roll of her eyes. 

“Why would I do that? I’ve been doing such a good job at ignoring you for the last thirty eight hours.” She smiled, closing her eyes as she laid her hands upon her stomach flatly. 

“I-I know you’re mad at me, but I need you to understand; nobody was going to help me.” I tried, and she rose a brow. 

“People have been trying to help you.” She retorted. 

“An entire precinct of highly trained officers, agents and detectives were unable to do in five years what me and my two tech nerds were able to do in three months.” I reminded. 

“Well, maybe if you told us you knew who he was, then it would have been different!” She growled, making it my turn to scoff. 

“Before or after he managed to find someone willing to take money to slit my throat while I was recovering from his attack? And what about the other people he’s victimized, or the victims who aren’t rich, or white, or cisgendered, Toni? What about all the kids on the southside who don’t have the privilege that I have to speak up about a man as powerful as him without being beat out or gutted like a fish?” I was standing by this point, and my heart was pounding against my ribs as my nostrils flared in pure rage, “You always talk about standing up for the little guys, and giving opportunities to the kids who were born with fixed lives.” My voice was trembling, fingers doing the same as my heart pounded against my ears. 

“Don’t you dare try and turn it around like you didn’t have some personal vendetta!” She demanded, meeting my eyes as she rose from the ground, up to her feet. 

“No, I’ll tell you exactly how I feel, exactly what I did, and why I did it, if it really makes you feel better.” I laughed, “Like the fact that I was ready to stop when I started getting close to you again, and the fact that I decided that Clara was the reason I had to keep going, because nobody was going to fight for her in the way I was, both physically, and financially.” Tears fell down my face, and my eyes burned as I forced myself not to let out a sob, despite my swollen eyes and quivering lip. “I could finally make a difference for people who needed it. People like Betty, and Josie, and Clara, and Heather, and…” I trailed off, swallowing a lump in my throat. “...and you.” 

“I can take care of myself, thanks.” She harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. 

“That doesn’t mean you have to.” I recalled, and she rose a brow. “You’ve always had to take care of yourself, and of everyone else, but I want to take care of you for once.” I admitted, walking closer to her. 

“I hate you, Cheryl.” She reminded, and I shrugged, stepping closer and taking her hands in mine. 

“And I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life.” I assured, looking into her eyes deeply. “I’d do anything for you.” I swore, making her scoff. 

“Go jump off the train.” She barely jested, and I exhaled. 

“Please, Toni.” I pleaded, my heart throbbing against my chest in time with the cracks that so ceremoniously chiseled their way into my already fragile heart. “I need you to look at it from my perspective, please.” I whimpered, and she rolled her eyes, ripping her hands from my grasp. 

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the last two months, Cheryl?” She cried, a sob escaping her lips as she collapsed to the ground, her hands on her knees, body hunched over her legs as her beck shook and racked in sobs. “All I’ve been trying to do is comprehend what can drive someone to do something like this, and there are no reasons I could think of,” her voice cracked, and she took in a deep breath before looking up between strands of her uncombed, unwashed hair. “Out of every reason I forced myself to look at, none have brought me to your conclusion.” She sniffled, and I dropped to my knees. 

“Think of all the people who we know have been killed by Hiram so far. That doesn’t include the people we never found out.” I requested, “My parents,” I held up to fingers, “Jason, Heather, your dad and brother.” I held up the sixth finger, and Toni met eyes with me suddenly. 

“You.” she whimpered, and my heart shattered. All the cracks needed was a single straw to send it crumbling apart, and this completely destroyed me. 

“Me.” I gulped. 

“I-I…” Her fingers trembled, and hair was suddenly being pulled back by her hands. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” She admitted, and I rose a brow. 

She ran her fingers through her matted hair and turned to lean her head against mine. 

“For the first three weeks you were gone, I thought your attacker killed you.” She admitted to me for the first time ever. “When I found out you were fine, I wished, for a brief second, that I was right.” Her voice cracked, and another tear fell down her face between us. “And for the next five years, I was angry at myself because of that brief second. More mad at myself than I’ve ever been in my entire life.” She sniffled, “Cheryl, I-I can never really stay mad at you.” She reminded, bringing her hand up to caress my face for a minute. “But more than anything, I’m angry that you were so selfish that you were willing to put yourself into the danger of being killed again, just because you felt like you had to.” 

“Toni, I-I’m sorry.” I whispered, and she shook her head. 

“Stop apologizing.” She demanded, and before I could respond, she had grabbed my face and pulled it against hers, her tongue delving between my lips immediately. I got up on my knees, and felt her do the same before roughly straddling me. Her breathing was already heavy, hips rolling against me in a rushed, sensual manner that made my stomach churn in the best way. “I’m still,” she moaned when my hands gripped the flesh of her backside at one particular buck of her hips against mine, “so, so mad at you.” She moaned, and I hummed, wrapping my hands around the back of her neck, my thumbs braced on her cheeks tenderly. 

“I can live with that,” I muttered, and I felt her hands slither down to untie my sweatpants, tugging them down my hips roughly. I untied my cloak from around my neck and laid it behind Toni distractedly before tilting her back and unbuckling her pants. It wasn’t thirty more seconds before my skin was flush against hers, her breasts slick against mine, our skin itching to be close. She slid her left leg between mine, her other around my left leg, and ripped my hair close, making me his as she tugged on my locks of hair and stroked her tongue against mine. She moaned against my mouth as I rolled my thigh between hers, her hands moving down to my back, feeling my muscles tense up as I humped her leg, desperate for release. 

“Oh,” she gasped, her hips bucking against mine as her arousal dripped down my thigh. I moved down to latch my lips to her neck, sinking my teeth into her flesh as I moved my hand between us to circle her clit. 

Now, I just wanted to feel close to her, and if this is what I got, it was worth it for now. 

Just for now. 

She gasped, her hips stuttering against mine before she reached her own hand between us and dragged her fingers through my wet folds, making my body shudder against her. 

“Ungh,” She gasped, and I trailed my tongue across her neck until my lips were against her straining throat. I sank my teeth there for a moment as she rolled her hips against my hand firmly, her unoccupied hand pulling my hips down onto her. The first two fingers on her right hand slipped deep inside of my sex, allowing me to sink down onto her digits. I gasped, throwing my head back from its place beneath her sweat-laced chin. 

I felt her nails in the flesh of my upper back side, making my center twitch around her as she curled her fingers. 

It was a power play for her, and I could sense it. 

She likes being on top, and since she didn’t get that, she was determined to make me hit my high first, so I embraced that, rolling my hips against her quickly, only bringing up my pace on her clit as I moved, making her throat constrict beneath my mouth. I sucked on her skin softly as I gathered more of her wetness from her center, making her whimper and cry, her abdomen tightening below me, meaning she was ready to release. 

Good, because so was I. 

My tight walls fluttered around her fingers, and my thighs shook around her own when I finally let go, in time for her to do the same. My body erupted as tight stomach released its tension all over Toni’s hand. I felt my thigh become coated with the remainder of her juices, and exhaled heavily as I collapsed on top of her, the two of us a mess of sweaty limbs and heavy breathing. Her breath was against my ear, and the raggedness made my head spin when mixed with the smell of her arousal. 

She ran her fingers through my hair softly, her body finally calming down from her anger induced arousal. 

“You went from screaming to moaning, and now we can’t sleep.” I heard Betty in my ear and groaned, dropping my head into Toni’s neck. 

“I’m gonna go beat my meat to that, god damn!” 

… 

“How are we gonna get to my apartment without walking through the front door?” Scoffed Toni skeptically from down below, hiding behind a dumpster. 

I drew my bow back and shot a grappling arrow up at her back fire escape. “Get on my back.” I demanded, and she did so as I jumped, taking us half way up to her apartment. I climbed the rest of the way and held onto the railing with one hand, using the other one to help guide Toni up over it. She crawled into the window and exhaled as she looked around in comfort while I hopped over the railing into her apartment. 

“I’m gonna go take a shower and get dressed.” She sighed before looking me in the eyes deeply. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.” She demanded, taking the earpiece out and handing it to me before going to her closet, then to her bathroom with her clothes. 

I sighed and sank into her couch, looking around with a sense of easiness. 

FInally, Toni was at least a little bit safer than before. 

“So what’s the plan, boss?” Josie asked in my ear, and I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. 

“Josie, I need you to run a scan for Hiram, or anyone who may know where he is.” I demanded. “Betty, is it safe to go home?” I inquired, “I want to pick up a few things.” 

“You’ll be fine. Just go through the back alley. I took the liberty of making a few new gadgets, and a temporary bike you can use until I can make a duplicate switch system.” Betty explained, and I smiled. 

“What would I do without you?” 

“Oh, you’d most definitely be dead without us.” Josie assured distractedly, and I rolled my eyes, only for them to be caught by a beautiful woman stepping out of the bathroom, hair wet, body clad in a white tank top and a pair of black joggers. 

“I have to pack up a few things, and give Lulu a call. Do you still have the burner phone?” She inquired, and I hummed, reaching into my backpack and tossing the phone to her. She opened it and dialed a number before heading into her bedroom, shuffling around as she mumbled into the phone at the woman. 

I waited in silence as Toni finished up her phone conversation, emerging from her room a few moments later, a backpack on her back, a harness over her shoulders with a gun in each holster. She was wearing a belt equipped with a taser, a knight stick, a flashlight, and two more guns. 

“Do you have any more earpieces?” Toni inquired. 

“I can definitely program a few more, why?” I heard Betty assure. 

“She said yeah, why?” 

“We’ve got some help.” She grinned, and I rose a brow. “Turns out, after news hit about Hiram being alive, a few of our officers, and some Athens officers quit.” She rose a brow before taking the earpiece from where I set it on the coffee table and putting it back in her ear. 

“Do you know anyone in particular?” Asked Josie, “I can probably figure out what’s happening if I have a name.” 

“Captain Minetta from the Athens department for sure.” 

“On it.” 

“Alright, let’s get to your house so you can shower and get ready before Lulu and the gang gets there.” 

“What?” I gasped, and she shrugged. 

“They care about justice, and if that means waiting to take you in, then so be it.” She assured. 

“Betty, meet us at the house with those new gadgets.” I demanded, putting my quiver on and getting ready to leave. 

… 

“Tranq pistol.” smirked Betty as she turned to Toni with the gun in her hand, cocking the gun and handing it to Toni. “Now, it’s touchy, and it’s a lot lighter than your regular weapon, but it’s much more accurate. She assured. 

We literally haven’t even gotten down to the basement yet, and Betty felt the need to show Toni the weapon. 

“Let’s go downstairs, Betty. We don’t want anyone seeing anything up here.” I demanded, opening the basement door and awaiting to the entrance of the two. 

I followed right behind Toni, watching as she looked around the little bunker. 

“I see they weren’t able to ravage in here.” I chuckled as Betty rushed to the desk with a laptop, opening it and typing away immediately. 

“Yeah, they even tried to break it down, but it wouldn’t budge.” She chuckled proudly at her handy work. 

“This is where you’ve been working out of?” Toni grunted, and I shrugged. 

“It’s my bunker. Where I train and where Josie and Betty work out of.” 

“Where we used to work out of.” Sighed Josie from behind, catching us off guard. 

“Not tonight.” I assured, “Tonight, this is where you reside. You’re safest here.” 

“My friend, Andrews said he’ll stay here and make sure nobody tries to pull anything.” Toni assured. 

“Exactly how many people have you recruited for help?” Josie asked as she moved to the desk with monitors in her hands, setting them up around her fiance.

“Eight.” She shrugged, and Betty gasped. 

“We’re gonna need more earpieces.” 

“I got it, babe. Picked up a few on the way here.” Josie assured as she put the keyboard down and ran up the stairs to grab the rest of the things from the garage. 

“Josie found a hit on Captain Manetta over by Southside Memorial.” Betty assured distractedly as she searched through something on the computer in her face. 

“Why would he be there?” I rose a brow, and suddenly, Toni went pale.” 

“Clara.”

“You’ll have an hour to get there before they do, assuming someone isn’t already on their way to Athens’ General Hospital. 

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go-” 

“Not without us.” I heart an authoritative voice, and turned to meet a beautiful woman looking at us, her hands on her hips as she looked at Toni. 

“Captain McCoy.” Toni exhaled, running to hug the woman tightly. 

“You’re the captain today, Detective.” She winked as Josie walked from the stairs to the corner where Betty was sitting. “Dead Eye.” She said in a stern tone, eyes on me intensely. I swallowed a lump in my throat before nodding and putting a hand out to shake hers. “I’m putting my team in your hands, young lady.” she warned as people started walking down the stairs, and I nodded. “Sierra McCoy, at your service.” Her tone didn’t change, her eyes never leaving mine. “I taught Josie everything she knows about computers, so I’ll be staying here with her and Detective Andrews.” She assured, gesturing to the redheaded man standing behind her with a wave and a soft smile. 

“Yes ma’am.” I sputtered, and she stepped away to go speak with Betty and Josie. 

“Cheryl, this is my wife, Sargent Veronica Lodge.” She gestured to a woman holding her hand. Her hair was jet black, her lips thin, smile kind. 

“I’m so sorry about all the pain my daddy has caused you.” She sighed sincerely. “He’s always been corrupt, but I never knew how deep it went. Now, I’m making up for his actions by helping catch him.” She assured. 

“I’m sorry that it had to turn out this way.” I said sadly, and she shrugged. 

“He’s wicked, and wicked people deserve to be punished. My daddy is not above the law, and it’s about time he learns that the hard way.” She assured passionately, and I smiled. 

“Thank you for helping me.” I thanked, and before I could open my mouth to say anything else, my eyes met with a familiar face. “Kevin?”

“Did you really think I’d let my best friend go at this alone?” He grinned, opening his arms to hug me. I inhaled his scent, sighing at the familiarity of my childhood friend. “I heard Fangs talking on the phone with Lulu and decided I could provide you with some legal help.” He assured. “I’ll stay here and work on some loopholes to keep you out of jail time.” He promised, making me exhale. 

“Thank you so much, Kev.” 

“What’s family for?” He winked, recalling one of the last things he’s said to me. “You remember my husband, Franky.” He smiled to the shorter man, who stood there beside a much taller man with a soft wave. 

“Sweetpea, Reggie and I will be out and about, ready at the mark when you need us.” He assured, and I smiled, shaking his hand before shaking the hands of both the tall man, and the shorter one beside him, named Reggie. 

“Thank you.” I nodded affirmatively, and Reggie nodded, pursing his lips.

“Sometimes you have to do bad things for the right reasons.” He assured, “Mine is to protect the love of my life.” He divulged, his eyes shifting behind me, to who seemed to be Archie. “He’s got a good heart, but he can be stupid sometimes, and those two things don’t mix well when he’s willing to do anything to keep his friends and family safe. It’s my turn.” His throat tightened, and I could feel his pain. He must’ve lost a lot in his life to make him this way, and I knew he and I would have a lot in common. 

“If we get out of here, I’d like to talk over a coffee, if that’s okay.” I requested. 

“I just told you I’m in love with someone.” He reminded, and I rolled my eyes. 

“I’m in love with someone too. I just think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” I admitted, and his facial expression didn’t change. 

“Deal.” 

“Alright, kids, we have a plan. Gather around!”


	16. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to share this, and drop me a follow on my Instagram, @tiddychoni and on my twitter @posiewosie. tweet me and tell me you're from here, and I'll drop a follow back! Enjoy, and stop by my other stories when you finish this chapter, I guarantee they're all as good as this one, if not better.

“Cheryl, before we all head out, I’d like to talk to you.” I heard Lulu behind me as I dried my hair after my shower, so I turned around to look at the woman. 

“What’s up?” I asked, watching as she closed the door behind her. 

“I just wanted to thank you,” She cleared her throat for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest guardedly, “for saving Toni, I mean.” She exhaled. “I’m not really good at expressing my feelings or whatever, but I love that girl like a little sister, and it’s nice to know what lengths you went through to get her back.” She explained, sitting on the edge of my bed as I slipped my bulletproof jacket on over my thermal top. 

“Thank you for loving her when I was too selfish to be here to do it.” I cleared my throat as I began to tie my hair into a braid. 

“It’s hard not to love that child,” Lulu chuckled, “but either way, you saved my partner’s life, and I owe you one now.” She saluted, making me smile softly. 

“If you help me catch Hiram, I’ll owe you one back.” I assured. “He killed my entire family and gutted me like a fish, so he’s worth five lives.”

“Toni said he killed her dad and brother too.” Lulu humed sadly, and I sighed. 

“Well, he’s gonna get a taste of his own medicine tonight.” I smirked, and Lulu grinned. 

“You’re not so bad, when I get past the whole ‘murderous vigilante’ thing.” She rolled her eyes. 

“No, I am so bad.” I assured, “I just know who deserves not so bad.” 

“Guys, c’mon, we have to go!” I heard from behind the door, and Lulu walked out to let me finish getting dressed. 

Finally, I came out of the room in full attire, hood up, quiver and bow over my shoulder, cloth around my mouth. 

“So, what’s the plan?” I exhaled as I walked into the main part of the house, stopping every conversation in the house when every eye landed on me. “What?” I asked, my brow risen. 

“I-it’s just…” Veronica eyed me up and down, walking in circles around me as she took me in. “I’ve never seen Dead Eye up close, and now that I do, you’re kinda underwhelming.” She insulted, and I watched Toni’s glare pointed Veronica’s way morphed into an evil smirk. 

“Wait til you see her move.” Lulu rolled her eyes, and I chuckled, calling back to our previous encounter. 

“So, what’s the plan?” I repeated myself to Betty, who was working from a laptop at the kitchen table. 

“We need to split off into teams,” she suggested, “you don’t want to get split off, because the people working for Hiram Lodge will be armed, and they will know how to work without their weapons.” She stood up and unplugged the last earpiece, handing one to everyone other than Toni and I. “These will allow you to communicate with us, and each other. They detect all sound, and are siphoned into different sound systems so that we can hear you all through different feeds.” She assured before seating herself again.

“Where are we going?” Reggie spoke up suddenly. 

“You’re going to Southside Memorial with Sweetpea and Frankie.” Betty assured as Josie walked up the steps from the open door of the basement. 

“Why? Isn’t the problem in Athens?” Scoffed Franky, and Josie nodded. 

“I detected suspicious activity from the cameras outside the hospital, so in case he’s planning on tricking us, I need you three to stake the place out, walk in and make sure there isn’t anything weird going on.” Josie assured, “You have to lay low, all of you. We don’t want Hiram to know Dead Eye is working with anyone else.” She demanded, and in the corner of my eye, I watched Lulu take her wife’s hand and squeeze it tightly. 

“As for Veronica, Lulu, Toni and Cheryl, I want you on your way to athens. Take cars in case you need to apprehend him. Cheryl, I took the liberty of making a few… modifications on the Impala over the last several months, so have fun.” 

… 

“Dead Eye Mobile.” Grinned Archie as he looked at all the gadgets inside of the vehicle upon pushing a button down on the radio tuner, showing scopes, specs, and sound frequencies, as well as a 360 degree view of the vehicle on the outside. 

“Check out the trunk.” Veronica said from the other side of the car, and I got out of the driver’s seat to look, noting the selection of different arrows in the bottom of the trunk, each quiver of arrows marked at the tips and labeled with a label maker. 

“Grappling arrows, grenade arrows, flash darts, amnesia darts,” Toni read off one by one, “eagle eyes..?” she looked up at Josie, who grinned. 

“Those are the camera arrows.” She grinned. 

“What the hell is a sloth dart?” Lulu asked over my shoulder, and Josie’s eyes bugged out for a moment before she turned away. 

“You don’t wanna know.” 

“Let’s just say…” Betty trailed off, “If you run out of handcuffs, these arrows will definitely stop your perp from going anywhere.” She said slyly, and I rolled my eyes before opening a little door in the side of the trunk, having to pull out a little shelf. 

Each row of the shelf had different things labeled in place. 

“Smoke peas?” I laughed in disbelief, and Betty nodded. 

“I’ve been working on them for a few days.” She recalled. “Breathe that smoke in, and you’ll sleep for hours.” She looked between the three detectives proudly, ignoring the looks of disbelief in their own faces. “Don’t worry,” She rolled her eyes, lifting the hatch on the bottom to reveal another layer of things. “I have you covered too.” 

It was like she was anticipating this, honestly. Leg harnesses, semi-automatic and fully automatic pistols, as well as bulletproof vests, black hats and jackets, and even a couple pump action rifles. 

“What the hell are we gonna need semi automatic weapons for?” Toni asked in disbelief, and Veronica gritted her teeth. 

“I think it’s necessary.” She divulged. “My father has many, many, very powerful people working for him, Toni, and I think it’s important to be prepared.” She assured, and Toni sighed before getting into the passenger’s seat of my car. “Lucy,” she whispered, spinning on her heel to look at her wife closely, reaching up to run her fingers through the curls on the back of her neck. “I don’t care what you have to do,” She whispered, “don’t let him take you away from me. I can’t lose you.” she swallowed the lump in her throat, “Not again.” 

“I’m never leaving you again, monkey.” She promised, a soft, warm, kind, and loving smile both on her lips and emanating from the crystal blue in her eyes. “I love you more than anything in the world, you know that?” She hummed, and Veronica giggled against her wife’s embrace before nodding. 

“You always say that.” She reminded, and Lulu shook her head against her wife’s own forehead, which rested against hers. 

“I don’t care, I’ll keep reminding you until it sticks.” She promised. “We’re gonna come out of this fine, and after this, we’re gonna keep looking for a baby, alright?” She hummed, and every worry in Veronica’s eyes vanished. “It’s gonna be you, me, and our baby, together forever.” She reminded, running her hand down Veronica’s cheek softly. 

“Forever and ever.” Veronica smiled. 

“Forever and ever.” Lulu winked, and Veronica rushed up to kiss her wife deeply, making it my time to walk away. 

“Good luck, Dead Eye.” Grinned Kevin, saluting me and making me roll my eyes. 

“Thanks so much for this again, Kev.” I hummed, and he rolled his eyes. 

“I told you, anything for family.” He reminded. “Now go, and come back alive.” He assured, pulling me in for a hug before sending me off. 

Two hour drive with a girl who claims to hate me, here I come. 

(Flashback) 

“I never understood the whole ‘Patriotism is great!’ thing.” Toni chimed suddenly before slipping her spoon back into her mouth for another bite of ice cream as we watched the sun slowly set over the New York horizon. “I mean, this whole country was built off of the backs of slaves, and immigrants from Japan and Ireland.” She recalled. “How could anything from the beginning of this country’s foundation be so widely celebrated? I don’t get it.” She scoffed, and I hummed. 

“Well, remember that president they brought into term like four terms ago, when we were just kids?” I instanced, “He had this whole idea of making America great again, despite the fact that it was never truly great to begin with.” I laughed, and she hummed. 

“So let’s just chalk it up to the fact that old white men are all crazy and nobody should trust them.” She said with finality, and I gigged before taking a bite of my own ice cream. 

“Sounds like a plan.” I flirted, and we watched the sun set for a few minutes, only for the first few fireworks of the holiday came up, making loud, booming noises, and making me flinch, my eyes wiring shut as I replayed the recent events in my head, as triggered by the sound that was so much akin to a gunshot. 

I began to hyperventilate, my throat constricting, my eyes refusing to open, my body completely tense as the sounds went on. 

“Shh,” Toni hushed me, pulling me into her from the other side of the hood of my car, tucking her face in my neck and willing me to do the same to her own. “It’s just fireworks,” She reminded me, saying it over and over again, until I was able to picture the beautiful lights shooting across the night sky, rather than the horror scene I had been so haunted with. “You’re safe with me, Cheryl.” She mumbled against my ear, and I finally felt my body relax against Toni as her fingers rested in my hair, allowing me to breathe in calmly. 

Is this what comfort is? I haven’t felt it since the moment before the love of my life was taken from me. 

Wow. 

“Thank you.” I whispered, and I felt her chest rise and fall as she chuckled against me. 

“You did the same for me.” She reminded me, and I hummed, opening my eyes to watch the lights flash across the dark New York sky. 

“You saved my life,” I argued, “it was the least I could do.” I smiled softly. 

“If I hadn’t, I never would’ve met you.” She teased, “What kinda life would that have been?” 

“A pretty boring one.” I offered, letting us laugh together as we watched the July 4th fireworks fly overhead, allowing the two of us to enjoy our night, buried in each other, before I would leave the next day, not to see her again for over five years.


	17. Sixteen

“Remember the first time we sat out on the roof of this car?” I hummed at Toni, who barely looked my way before rolling her eyes and looking out of the window, ignoring me. “That was when I realized I loved you.” I admitted, and her fiery eyes met mine, her jaw clenched, nostrils flaring. 

“Don’t do that to me!” She growled, and I ignored the snatch in my chest, just to look at her for a moment before focusing on the road. “You left me, Cheryl. Just two days after that day. You left me to wonder and worry over you for weeks.” A tear fell from her eye and my lip twitched. “You lied to me for all those months, you let me share my deep secrets with you when you knew you were the very thing I was focused on putting behind bars, Cheryl.” I watched tears fall from her eyes through the corner of my eye and moved to take her hand from her lap, and she snatched it out of my reach, glaring at me intensely as I exited the freeway into Athens. “I hate you.” She promised. 

“No she doesn’t.” I heard in my ear from Lulu. “She’s just angry at you.” She assured, and Toni’s eyes rolled again. 

“Alright, Cheryl, I can’t get a clear image on the alleys within a two block radius of the hospital, so park in one and deploy some eagle eyes around the other.” Betty asked me through the speakers of the car. 

“There’s an entrance on the east end of the building in the back, and there’s one on the south end, but it’s blocked by a metal fence. It’s where the morgue entrance is located.” Josie warned as I parked. 

“I’ll take the south entrance.” I assured. “Lulu, take the front entrance, Veronica, stay out here in case you see anything suspicious. Toni, take the east entrance.”

“I don't take orders from you.” Toni gumbled, crossing the arms over her chest. 

“Toni, grow the fuck up for a few hours so we can save your niece. Be mad at her late, but for now, remember that she saved your life and she's risking her life to save your family.” Lulu demanded through the coms, and I watched Toni's eyes roll before she harnessed a gun in her boot, getting out of the car to harness one in her back belt. She pulled a leather jacket over her shoulder holsters to hide them before pulling her badge over her neck and zipping her jacket up to hide the bullet proof vest, the guns and the badge. 

“Entering front entrance now.” Lulu informed everyone as I grabbed my quiver from the back seat, pulling my hood over my head and my clothes over my face, stopping below my eyes. 

Toni looked at me for a brief moment, a look of fear in her eyes before turning away and running down the alley toward the east end of the hospital. I sighed before running down the adjacent direction to the back gate. I set off a grappling arrow toward the fire escape on the building, allowing it to snatch me off the ground and over the fence. I slid down the rope on the arrow, allowing me to become lowered onto the floor in front of the back entrance. 

“All clear, I'm going up to Clara's floor.” Lulu informed through the earpieces. 

“Me too.” Toni added as I opened the door and snuck beyond it, looking around for the coroner, in case he was anywhere nearby. It was clear, so I quickly snuck up the staircase toward Clara’s room, listening intently to my surroundings, anticipating someone’s speech in my ear. 

This was where my training really came in handy. All the time I spent with the people I spent time with, learning the art of complete silence, the art of utter calm. 

(flashback) 

“I need you to focus on your breathing.” Whispered my new teacher from across the room from me. “Not how you’re breathing, not why. Just that you are.” I heard Ethel’s breath expel, and I did the same, allowing my mind to clear itself. “Now, focus on your mission. Focus on what happened to you. Again, not how, not why. Just that it happened.” She hummed as my mind flashed to my memory, my throat tightening as I recalled the absolutely blood curdling snarl on his face while the knife drove through my bare skin, ripping through my muscle. I recalled the pain in my throat when it happened, I recalled the throbbing of my skin beneath the blood, I recalled the fear in my mind, I recalled the losses I’ve experienced in the last few years. Just three months ago when I lost my twin brother, and the love of my life. 

A single tear fell from my closed eye. 

“Much better, Cheryl.” Ethel whispered, “Now, remember what you’re doing this for. Remember who you’re going home to, what you’re going home for. Not the mission, but the reason behind the mission.” 

I immediately saw Toni’s smile flash across my mind, her lips curled up into a big, bright, lovely smile. I remembered the way her toe curled when she laughed the way she did. I remembered her eyes, how deep they were, how her soul had gone through so much, but she still managed to be a better person, despite all the pain, and the trauma, and all the things they did to her, all the horrible people in the world. 

It made me think of all the good people in the world. All the victims, all the people who were completely destroyed because there was never anyone who was willing to see to it that their lives were spared, that they were happy. 

And I was able to smile. 

Wow. 

This really is what it feels like, not to have any pressures, not to know anger, or sadness, or suffering, or even happiness, joy, excitement, love. I just felt content. 

Calm. 

“You did it.” Laughed Ethel, allowing me to open my eyes and look into her big, smiling brown eyes. “You’re finished.” 

“Th-that’s it?” I cleared my throat. 

“Cheryl, the amount of strength it takes to become calm is all the strength you need to do it again. You have what you need. You can proceed on your journey now, just like you planned.” She grinned, scooting across the room to look at me closer. 

“But, I feel like I just got comfortable.” I cleared my throat, and I caught another soft, kind smile from Ethel Muggs. 

“The only place you should get comfortable is back in Riverdale, with Toni.” She assured. “Now, go to Mexico like you said you would.” 

“I’ll miss you though.” I excused, and she smiled again. 

“Cheryl, I’ll always be here,” she shrugged. “I’m just a phone call away.” She promised, “Now go. The sooner you leave here, the sooner you’ll get back to fulfill your duty.” 

(end of flashback)

I slid through the door to the eighth floor and hid behind the door of a supply closet and looked around the corner to see if there was any strange activity when I saw a tall, lanky man walking towards Clara’s room. He was wearing a suit that was likely worth more than one of the MRI machines in that hospital, and he was looking around before he walked in. 

“Someone just walked into Clara’s room.” I mumbled into the mic. 

“What are you waiting for? Go in there!?” Toni demanded, and I looked around, noting the empty room across the way, next door to Clara’s room. I ran across and closed the curtain that stood between the door and the rest of the room so I could hear things, but also to avoid being seen. I opened the window and shot a grappling arrow up at the next window up so I could hang from it and peek into the window.

“Cheryl, throw one of your extra coms in the room so we can hear.” Betty demanded, and I reached into my pocket to do so, allowing the frequency to come into our ears. 

“Hi, little girl, what’s your name?” Asked the younger man. 

“Oh hell nah, that was such a fucking creepy thing to say.” Josie refused, and I heart someone hush her so we could hear more clearly. 

“Valerie.” She said simply, and I was confused. 

“That’s a very pretty name.” 

“It was her mom’s name. Kid knows something’s wrong.” Toni informed, and I felt my heart calm slightly. 

“My name’s Ellio.” He offered. “I’m a friend of your auntie Toni.” 

“I didn’t know my auntie Toni had any man friends.” Clara confronted, making me thank God she really was just ten, and not stupid like she assured me. He turned out the window for a moment, so I moved my head so he couldn’t see me, content with just listening.

“I work with her at the station.” He lied. 

“What are you doing here? Is my auntie okay? Did she get hurt?” She asked, likely in reference to the fact that she’d been missing. 

“No, no. She’s just fine, in fact, she’s here, in the hospital somewhere. Let’s go see her, yeah, Valerie?” He hummed, and I heard Toni’s breathing grow heavy through the coms. 

“I-I think I should just wait for my auntie to come here. Nurse Walker said to not leave the room until she could give me my medicine.” She judged, and I heard a foot shifting. 

“Nurse Walker told me you were okay to leave. We’re getting you out today.” He lied. 

“My daddy didn’t come to get me yet, Ellio.” She laughed, and I could hear the edge in her voice. 

“We-” 

“Is everything okay, Clara?” Asked another voice, Likely nurse Walker. 

“Yes, Roz. I called you because I wanted to know what happened. Can I really go home already?” 

“Wow, that kid is fucking smart.” I heard Lulu mutter through the coms before Roz answered. 

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t know who told you that, sweetie, but you still have a few more days before your dad is able to make the trip down to get you.” She assured. “Wh-who’s this?” She asked. 

“Ellio.” Clara answered. “I don’t know him but he says he works with my auntie.”

“Didn’t you say you knew everyone who works with your aun-” 

“Listen.” I heard an all-too familiar clicking noise, followed by a gasp and a squeak. “I’m gonna take her with me, and you’re gonna let me go if you want to live.”

“No, you’d have to kill me.” She cleared her throat, and I took that moment to kick off of the building and land in the room silently, drawing back my bow and catching Ellios back with an amnesia dart. His head went limp and he fell to the ground harshly. I looked at the nurse, whose eyes were wide behind the big lenses of her thin framed glasses, her hands up, lip quivering as I leaned down to grab the gun and tuck it into my belt.

“I appreciate it.” I said with my voice normal since I decided to go without the frequency inducer. Everyone knew who I was anyway, right? So why hide my voice. “But leave the life-risking choices to me, okay.” I asked, and she nodded. 

“Auntie Cheryl!” Whispered Clara as she moved to hug me tightly, tears falling down her eyes. “I-is Auntie Toni okay?” She whimpered, and I cleared my throat. 

“She’s fine.” I promised before looking up to Roz. “Report a kidnapping if you want, but I need to take her with me.” I swore, and she blinked. “Her life is in danger and it’s better that they find out she’s not here so they stay far away from this hospital. So do what you have to, send out a search party, call SWAT, but the safest place for her to be is with me.” I demanded, and she looked down, trying to think of what she would do until she sighed. 

“Go. I’ll get it cleared.” She assured before grabbing a blanket and wrapping Clara in it, handing her the little stuffed bunny. “This is our little secret, okay?” She smiled to Clara, holding out her pinky for Clara to wrap around her own, kissing the back of Roz’s hand as the woman did the same. “Good luck, Dead Eye.” Her throat tightened as she looked at me in sincerity. I saluted her and scooped up the little girl, wrapping my arm around her as she did so around me before jumping out of the window and suspending down to the ground at the east entrance where Toni was headed out of. 

“Aunt Toni!” Clara called as I let her go to hug her aunt, who hushed her as she held her close, kissing her forehead. “I missed you so much.” 

“I missed you too, baby.” 

“I’m apprehending Ellio now.” Lulu assured through the speakers. 

“Dead Eye, I need you and Sergeant Lodge to case the grounds for any sign of the suspects or Ellio’s accomplaces.” Captain McCoy instructed and I hummed before running around the back and through the alley on the side of each building until I had weaved for about three blocks. I ran back to them, expelling heavy breaths for a moment before regaining my composure. 

“I got nothing.” I assured. 

“I hear something.” Veronica whispered through the lines. 

“Where is she?” Asked Lulu before I could. 

“Half a block away.” Josie answered immediately, “Twelfth and Main.” 

“I’m headed down there now.” I assured, sprinting down the street, breathing in and out through my nose to keep my stamina before I she caught my eye. I ducked behind a dumpster, looking at her as she was ducked behind a car. 

“A black SUV across the street.” She pointed out, making me look at the vehicle with the running engine. I squinted to look inside and groaned when I noticed a familiar face. 

“Can Mad Dog just fucking stay dead?” I complained in time for Veronica’s eyes to snap to me. “Lulu I need you to bring the car here.” I requested of her as I stood up and walked toward the vehicle. 

“What the fuck are you doing!?” Veronica whispered in an intense manner, but I ignored her before walking around the back of the vehicle, grabbing the gun from my belt and tapping on the window of the vehicle, waking up the sleeping giant. His eyes widened when he saw me and immediately went into the glove compartment for his gun, but I shot off the weapon, shattering the glass on both front windows and scaring the man rigid. 

“I thought you didn’t use guns?!” Hissed Lulu, making me smirk at the perpetrator. 

“I said I didn’t use guns, not that I don’t know how to use one.” I grinned before pulling out a pair of cuffs and taking opening the door to coff him. He was in bad shape, bruises and cuts all over his face, arms and hands from the accident a couple days ago. No wonder he was just driving, he wouldn’t have been able to survive another run in with me, which is likely why he surrendered so quickly. Lulu pulled up in her black jeep, Toni following in my car, to let me tuck the man away beside his friend, but before I could duck him in, he swung his foot up to kick me in the head, but I ducked, grasping his suspended foot with both hands, jerking his foot until I felt it snap and heard a loud groan escape his throat. I caught him before he fell to the ground and shoved him against Lulu’s door, my arm cutting off the circulation of his throat, making him gasp and wheeze for air, my other hand pushing his face into the window so he could see me through the corner of his eye as I muttered into his ear, my voice deathly low. 

“They said I couldn’t kill you, but remember that you tried to kill the love of my life and I can very well make you wish you were dead.” I slammed his head against the side panel of the door, making him fall unconscious. 

“Oh my God, that was so fucking hot.” I heard Toni whisper, followed by three collective whispers through the earpieces.

“I know, right?” Lulu glared at Veronica, who was standing on the other side of the Jeep, gawking at me before she shrugged at her wife. 

So now Betty and Josie can bond over their attraction toward me. I love a healthy relationship. 

“Lu, can you help me?” I grunted as I tried to lift the monstrously sized man but couldn’t quite get it before Lulu got out to help me hoist the man up next to his unconscious companion. 

“Stick them with this in about twenty minutes,” I suggested of Lulu as I reached into my quiver for two amnesia darts, “Ellio should be fine for the next couple hours since he’s smaller and was hit with one already but we’ve literally blown up Mad Dog and somehow, he’s still alive.” 

“We?” Asked Lulu and I shrugged. 

“Toni and I.” I sighed, and her eyes shifted to the woman who was now in the passenger’s seat before nodding at me and taking the darts back in the Jeep. 

I got in the car and began to drive after Lulu back to Riverdale after putting my quiver and my bow in the trunk and covering Clara up so she could sleep on the way back to Riverdale. 

“I just called Chuck,” Betty said through the silence between Toni and I. “Archie’s gonna drive him and Clara up to my sister’s farm in upstate Riverdale.” 

“What about you guys? Who’s gonna keep you safe?” I inquired. 

“Cheryl, we’re in a bullet proof, soundproof basement with a door that can’t be opened by anyone but you, Josie and I. If we really need to defend ourselves, Captain McCoy has a gun, and you have an itinerary of weapons in the trunk under your cot. We’ll be perfectly safe down here.” Betty chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. 

“Alright, but until then, we need to keep radio chatter silent in case Reggie and the boys find something at the hospital. Turn off the mics and keep the earpieces on.” I suggested before doing so on my own earpiece. 

“Thanks, by the way. For being willing to take on those charges to save Clara.” Toni mumbled, refusing to look me in the eye. 

“I love her, anything is worth it when you love someone.” I shrugged. 

“Even murder?” She inquired coldly, making me shrug. 

“You mean to tell me you’ve never contemplated killing someone over someone you love?” I asked with a brow furrowed. 

“I wanted to kill Hiram when I found out he was the one who killed my dad and brother.” She admitted before looking up at me through the corner of her eye, “And you.” 

“He didn’t kill me.” I laughed. “I’m more alive than I’ve ever been.” 

“And it took killing people to do that?” She gawked, and I rolled my eyes. 

“It took meeting you to do that. It took loving you to do that.” I promised, and watched her lip quiver before she finally met my eyes. 

“I-” She was interrupted by a loud noise in the earpieces.

“Dead Eye, help! It’s Hiram, we need your he-”


	18. Seventeen

(flashback) 

“Standing in one place isn’t going to do anything but make it easier for your opponent to take you down, Cheryl.” Exhaled my trainer, Gracie Lake from around the other side of the tatty old punching bag. 

“The target isn’t moving.” I gasped, not letting up my relentless blows to the red bag of sand. Suddenly, I was hit in the face, and was sent to the ground before I could blink. I opened my eyes and noticed the bag swinging back and forth, a look of amusement in Gracie’s eyes before she helped me up. 

“The target will be moving. If you keep your feet planted, you keep yourself limited.” She assured. “Hit me.” She demanded, and I looked up in horror. 

“W- no!” I refused and she rolled her eyes at me before throwing a punch at me, jabbing her glove into my gut, making me groan, resisting the need to hunch over. I looked up with my eyes glossed over with tears, as she cracked her neck from side to side, ringing her hands out before balling her fists again, moving her fee. 

“C’mon Cheryl, get up and hit me.” She grinned with a challenging chuckle, eyes wild with unbridled competitivity. 

“I-I don’t want to hurt you.” I admitted, and the girl rolled her eyes. 

“Does it look like I’m worried about hurting you, Cheryl? Do you think others are going to be worried about hurting you?” She asked with a chuckle as I straightened my back to stand upright. “Now, don’t worry about hurting me.” She insisted, “Look at me and see your bad guy. Remember why you’re doing this, and don’t hold back.” 

I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply, thinking about that sharp glint in his dark eyes before I opened my eyes, my nostrils flared, jaw tight and I surged forward and threw a punch toward her face, but she moved her entire body, feet first, sending my stumbling forward. 

“Don’t put all your weight into it.” She added, “Move your feet. The more your feet move, the easier it will be for you to step out of the way.” She hummed, moving to punch me, only for me to do as she told, causing her to punch the air instead of my face. “Great job! Again…” 

(end of flashback)

“Has anyone heard from Lulu?” I asked frantically as I carried Clara’s sleepy form from my car to Archie’s truck so she could curl back in the back seat. 

“She dropped us off at the station and took her motorcycle to the hospital to go check on the boys.” Veronica answered through the entercoms and I exhaled. 

“I’ll head down there too.” I sighed as I got back into my car and drove toward the bridge with Toni in the front seat, looking out of the window in fear. 

“Look, I’m sorry, Toni, I-” 

“You know what I was the most angry about, Cheryl?” She asked me suddenly, taking me off guard. 

“U-uh, no.” 

“I met you when you had holes in your body, Cheryl.” She reminded me, and I felt something in my stomach drop. “You literally died and I watched it happen. I had to give you my own blood. Did you know that?” She asked, looking to me for the first time since we left Athens. 

“N-no, I didn’t.” I swallowed a lump in my throat, and she chuckled sadly. 

“I did so much to keep you alive, and then, I caught feelings for you, but you left, and when you came back, I finally had you back. For the first time in five years, something was going my way.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “And then I shot you.” Her voice was small suddenly, as though her heart broke with the crack of her voice, and I felt my own shatter. “I hurt you, and I was happy that I did, Cheryl.” She wiped a single fallen tear from her eye with a sniffle. “When I found out that you were Dead Eye the way I did, seeing what I had done to you, Cheryl, not Dead Eye, it was just easier to hate you than it was to realize that you have your reasons, no matter how much I can’t condone it.” 

I wanted nothing more than to pull over, to turn to the beautiful woman beside me and kiss her, hold her against me for the first time in so long, to tell her everything was gonna be okay. 

But how did I know that? 

Three of our men are in danger, Lulu is a ticking time bomb ready to explode to find her little brothers, and I still have yet to kill this man. 

I didn’t know if everything was gonna be okay. I didn’t know if I was gonna get out of this alive. Sure, we had a team of strong and capable people, but he had an army of trained killers and mercenaries. I was the only one willing to kill on sight, and that scared me. 

I wish Toni hadn’t involved all these people, honestly, because now I have lives I have to keep safe, rather than only worrying about myself. 

And now, there are three lives on the line. We didn’t know who was okay, or what state they were in. Where did he take them? How did he know to take them? Why did he take them? 

“I found them.” Josie said suddenly through the line, and Lulu’s voice finally came through. 

“I’m at the hospital, their car is thrashed. Looks like someone crashed into it.” 

“They cameras were disabled,” Captain McCoy divulged, “That means we have a hacker on our hands, Betty, make sure the trackers, cameras and wires are all secure.” 

“Where the fuck are the boys?!” Demanded Toni, catching me off guard. 

“The roof.” Josie said simply, just in time for us to pull up to the hospital. I pulled over and got out right away, pulling my hood and cloth over my face, grabbing my quiver and bow. 

“Come on, Toni.” I demanded as I opened her door and grabbed her hand to run across the busy afternoon street of Riverdale. 

“You’re just gonna burst in without a plan?” Asked Veronica over the line, and Josie answered. 

“It’s what she does best.” 

“Besides, I don’t see Lulu and I think it’s best we catch the guy who took them before she does.” Toni admitted breathily as I drew back my bow with a grappling arrow.

“Take my waist.” I demanded quickly. 

“W-what?” Toni sputtered. 

“Hold me tightly, brace yourself and be ready to land harshly.” I demanded, and without asking me another question, she wrapped her arms around my waist tightly, allowing me to deploy an arrow, hooking it to the top of the building, dragging me up harshly. We whipped up amongst a couple trees, landing between them, eliciting a squeak from Toni as she stumbled away from me, likely overwhelmed by the fact that we were just slingshotted fifty feet into the air. 

“Across the way, by the east end of the building.” Josie demanded, and I put my fingers up to my lips, signalling for her to be quiet. I pointed her to the other end of the building, so that she could be on one side and I could come up from the other. I pulled a standard arrow from my quiver and drew it across my bow, watching as she pulled her gun from her holster and held it down, at the ready. I looked through the plants that I had not seen since that fateful day, listening closely to the surrounding noises, trying with everything in me to distinguish the city chatter and police sirens from the people on the rooftop. 

“I just want to know where Dead Eye is, and I’ll let you all go.” Sounded Hiram’s voice, making my blood curdle. 

“I told you,” Groaned Fangs, “we were here to tail a fraud suspect.” He lied, and they finally came into view as I turned between two planters, hiding behind a cherry blossom tree. 

“For a cop,” chuckled Hiram as he played with a gun in his hand, “you sure don’t know much about interrogation.” He bent down to Fangs’ level and pressed the barrel of the gun against the underside of the man’s throat. “I know you’re lying.” He hissed. 

“Leave him alone!” Spat Sweetpea from a few feet away, flex cuffs tying his wrists together, his face scratched up, dirt on his cheeks and a bruise over his eye. 

“Oh?” Chuckled the man, the back of his head the closest thing I could see to his face, hair missing, welts in the skin of his scalp and the back of his neck. “You care about him…” He paced back and forth, twirling the gun around his thumb. “Not like partners,” he speculated, “brothers..?” He laughed, using the gun to scratch his tempo, his free hand shaky as he stood up. “The last brother I interrogated died at the hands of his little sister.” He recalled, making my nostrils flare, my chest heaving as I tried to keep myself calm, as Ethel had taught me. 

He looked between the two of them, gaging them. 

“Which one of you is older?” He hummed before predicting Sweetpea and bringing Fangs up to his feet, making Sweetpea struggle against his restraints, groaning and snarling for the sake of his little brother. “Bingo.” 

“Let him go, or I’ll rip you to shreds, snake!” He barked, making the much shorter man chuckled before pushing the boy closer to the edge of the building, causing Fangs to shake and shudder warily, trying to fight against the man’s grasp. 

“Let him go?” He chuckled, holding the gun against Fangs’ back, jabbing him and forcing him further off the edge, I could imagine his toes were hanging off the ledge. 

“Dead Eye,” Betty shouted laboredly, as though she had been running, “listen carefully. There’s a button on the side pocket of you quiver on the left side, pull on it.” she demanded, and I did so, making the normal sewing button fall off with almost no force. “Stick it over the head of a grappling arrow.” she demanded, and I did so, unable to afford second guessing her. “Deploy the rope and wrap it around a tree.

“This will all be over if you just told me where Dead Eye is.” 

“Don’t tell ‘em, Sweets!” He snarled, making Hiram’s arm extend, sending the boy off the side of the building until his heels were barely hanging on. 

“Don’t get bold now,” he laughed diabolically, “I can promise that it will cost you your life.” 

“You’re getting a word out of us.” Fangs threatened, hate in his voice, and Hiram’s chuckle came to light again.

“Speak for yourself.” He promised, and Sweetpea’s head was hanging as he seemed to look up, ready to spill his guts. 

“Shoot at Fangs on three.” Betty demanded, and My entire body tensed. 

“Betty, what the hell!?” Kevin screeched from the background, but I trusted Betty. I had to. I aimed as I heard muttering on the other side of the earpiece, then the sound of Toni’s voice. 

“Riverdale PD, Freeze!” She demanded in her deep voice, her gun pointed at the suddenly alert man, who chuckled over his shoulder and let Fangs go. 

“Three!” Betty shouted, and I let the arrow free, springing it toward the falling man, making it miss and hit the building across, hooking into the bricks. I didn’t see what happened, but I saw the arrow jerk harshly, making the building crumble under the weight of what must’ve been Fangs’ body. I was caught off guard by the sounds of Sweetpea’s screams coming into my ears, his sobbing coming up just a moment later. 

“Hiram Lodge,” Toni shouted was she walked closer to him, his gun in the air as he held his hands over his head, “you’re under arrest for attempted murder of an officer of the law.” Toni admitted as she approached, making his raise a brow.

“Attempted?” He looked over the edge of the building and chuckled when he saw what he did, which had to have been a safe Fangs. 

“Put the gun down. There’s no way out, you’ve lost.” Toni yelled.

“Oh, darling, the game has just begun.” He winked before dropping the gun and opening his arms to fall back, off the building.


	19. Eighteen

“Fangs, oh my God!” Gasped Lulu as she ran up from behind the building in time for me to swing down the roof, onto the ground. He was hanging in a net, which Josie designed to catch and detain enemies. Luckily, I caught a piece of the rope in the rope of the grappling arrow, stopping Fangs from falling to his death. 

“Wait…” Toni said through her headset from the roof where she was with Sweetpea. “Where’s Reggie?” She inquired as the youngest Leatherbelly brother regained his composure, straightening his shirt and securing the weapon Lulu gave him. 

“He’s waiting in Pea’s car.” Lulu assured. 

“He left to get a burrito and one of Hiram’s goons pistol whipped him right before he got back inside.” Fangs explained. 

“What happened to the goons?” Veronica asked through the earpieces, and I watched Lulu’s lip twitch and looked down to her bloody hands before she put them behind her back. 

“I-I took care of them.” She assured, and Fangs rose a brow. 

“What does that mean?” He asked cautiously. 

“Don’t worry about it, what matters now is that you’re all okay.” she assured. “What’s our new plan?” Lulu inquired as Toni and Sweetpea walked up to hug Fangs tightly, overwhelmed with worry. 

“Maybe plans are starting to become redundant.” I exhaled finally. “Maybe all of this was stupid.” My throat tightened as I kissed my teeth and rested my hands on my hips, feeling defeated as I paced back and forth. “Maybe you should’ve just handled him, or maybe I should’ve done it on my own.” I felt hopeless now. This man was completely mutilated from the explosion, as far as anyone knows, he’s dead. It was seven against one as far as we knew, but this man had all the money, and all the will in the world, and it made me fear that everyone else had become an enemy of this man, just for the sake of helping me, someone they didn’t even know. 

“I’m sorry I dragged you all into this.” I sighed, “I think we should stop now. I give up.” I assured, and the Leatherbelly siblings looked between each other before Lulu sighed hesitantly. 

“If you stop, I’m obligated to arrest you, Cheryl.” She reminded, and I sighed, pulling the cloth over my face down and holding my hands out for her to cuff me. 

I was willing to face my consequences. 

This was stupid of me, to think I could play God and get away with it. To think I could actually get this done without help. To think I could kill the richest man in America. 

Lulu turned me around and pulled out her cuffs before whispering into my ear. 

“You have five seconds to run.” She muttered, and I rose a brow before looking up, over my shoulder at the arresting officer. “Go.” She cleared her throat and loosened her grip on me, allowing me to break free, running down the street as fast as I can, not looking back, no matter how badly I wanted to. 

No matter how much my heart ached for my eyes to see Toni one last time. 

“Cheryl, we’re gonna try and get you out of this mess.” Betty promised as I opened the door to my car, got in and turned the key in the engine. I slammed on the gas and peeled down the street in a frantic attempt at getting away from the hospital. 

“Do you have somewhere to hide until we can get you free?” Kevin asked, and I sighed, recalling Gracie’s house in Australia. 

“I know of one place.” I muttered, turning sharply to make my way across SouthSide bridge. 

“Listen to me,” I heard Sierra’s voice through the earpieces, “I love Toni like a daughter,” she reminded, “If you leave again, she’ll never forgive you. Don’t hurt her again, I beg of you.” 

Maybe there was a reason all this has happened. Maybe there was some cosmic plan set about by God, or whoever it may be that controls my fate. 

All I knew is that Toni and I weren’t meant to be together. 

After all this time, all these inconveniences, all this pain, I’d be a fool not to acknowledge that fact, if not anything else. 

“Tell her I said I’m sorry.” I whispered, closing my eyes to blink away the tears. 

“Tell her yourself.” I heard Toni’s voice in my ear, and I sighed. “Cheryl, please,” she cried, “You can’t leave me again. Not with everything happening.”

“Toni, I’m sorry, but-” 

“But nothing.” She interrupted, and I heard shuffling on the other end. “I know a place. Just turn back around, now.” 

… 

“What is this place?” I asked as we pulled into the garage of what seemed to be an old bar or club. 

“This is the Whyte Wyrm.” She divulged as she pushed the button on the remote in her hand to close the garage behind us. “It’s an old Serpent joint that my dad couldn’t keep the payments up on, so Hiram bought it out, just to be an asshole to my dad. He didn’t even do anything with it.” She scoffed as we got out and walked into the main part of the building through the garage door. 

“Why was your dad so important to Hiram?” I asked as I looked around at the dusty old bar, not seeing anything of value. 

“They were friends in high school until my mom chose my dad over Hiram, and ever since then, he’d had it out for him.” She divulged as she turned the lights on and walked behind the bar to get something to drink from the shelves, which remained untouched. 

“I don’t understand,” I blinked, shaking my head in confusion as I sat at the bar on an old stool against it. “What could he have done to compel Hiram to end his life?” I inquired as she opened a bottle of whiskey and poured them into two glasses that remained untouched. 

“Well, I don’t know, honestly, but Veronica said Hiram is a very sensitive and temperamental man.” She hypothesised as she took a drink of the whiskey from the glass. “I imagine that my dad coulda just looked at him funny and he decided to burn his house down.” She sighed, her fingers shaking against the glass she held tightly. 

“A-are you okay, TT?” I asked, reaching across the counter to lay my hand over hers, feeling the deep rooted quake of her muscle and skin against my touch. 

“Um…” she looked at our hands and slid hers out from under mine, ringing it with her other one. I noted her uneven breathing and her twitchy eyes. “N-not really.” She let out a shaky breath. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, hoisting myself onto the counter by my arms and turning to stand in front of the detective. I took her hands in mine and pulled them together, pulling them to my lips, then down to lay against my chest. 

“I’ve lost so much already, Cheryl.” She sniffled, tears falling from her eyes slowly, not daring to meet them with mine. “I almost lost Fangs today.” She cried before looking up, “I almost lost you again.” She sniffled, and wiped a tear from below her eye, “Cheryl, I can’t lose anything else.” she whimpered, and I hushed her before pulling her into me, cradling her head against my chest, one arm over her head, other against her back to pull her closer. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Toni.” I promised, kissing her forehead, “You’re never gonna lose me again, not now. Not ever again.” 

“You can’t promise that.” She whimpered against my chest, and I hummed, hushing her calmly. 

“I can, and I am.” I assured, “I’m never gonna leave you again.” 

“You promise?” She asked, clearing her throat softly as she looked up with tear stained cheeks and glossy eyes. My heart ached as I looked down at the beautiful woman in my arms. 

“I promise.” I assured, “I love you.” 

“I-I…” she inhaled sharply before exhaling with a soft chuckle. “I love you too.” She promised, grabbing my face with her hands and pulling me in to press her lips against mine, her lips holding mine slightly before she pulled away to lean her head against my neck, her hips moving from side to side as she held me close. We swayed together and hummed together in silence, but I listened to my fluttering heart as it trickled its way into my skin, to my cheeks in the form of a smile.


End file.
